The Life Before The Party
by Tajeri Lynn Extremo Luchadore
Summary: The quest may be over, but the adventure is forever! As the J-Team reaches its one-year anniversary, Jackie Chan takes to the stratosphere when the Horse Talisman goes missing. Maybe this is what a JCA movie could look like!
1. I-II

A/N: Kids WB and Sony present Jackie Chan Adventures, live from the Toonami Dome every Weekdays and Saturday. But since the roster doesn't perform on Sundays, they will gladly star in this fanfic mini-series. Just remember I don't own the characters or the original series, so Jackie, his buddies, and the Extremo Luchadore will take time completing this fanfic. By the way, since my chapters are very short, I'll place several sub-chapters in each part, just to let you know.  
  
THE LIFE BEFORE THE PARTY  
  
Chapter I: Emergence  
  
It was already a year, before he had known it.  
  
Yet every one of his friends knew. They had kept track of the time because it would happen, the day marking one year as a team. A clan. A Chan-tastic Five, as someone close to him had once said.  
  
The world had heaved a sigh of relief for one whole year, never recognizing he had played such a part in its survival.  
  
Those who remembered THE year were willing to come together, for a get-together party, one that for once won't have trouble.  
  
But trouble always comes afoot...  
  
******************************************************************************  
  
Jackie Chan, the air-defying archaeologist, had come back home after dueling with Shadowkhan in an expedition to a historic American restaurant. They were no problem at all, having fallen only to him and a rusty potato peeler. It was soon crystal clear that Shendu and his cronies had lost their edge much too often since the J-Team came to be. Now, the enemy was certainly no match.  
  
Jackie stepped right into Uncle's antique shop, but noticed the front room was empty. Strange. Uncle preferred staying where he worked, away from a menace called the sun.  
  
"Uncle?" said Jackie in his ponderous voice.  
  
Uncle appeared from the kitchen room, and walked up to him with a smiling face.  
  
"Jackie! So good to see you! Give your Uncle a hug!"  
  
Jackie, glad to see his Uncle, walked up toward him, and was met with two fingers whacked upon his face.  
  
"Ow!"  
  
"Don't you know what it means when Uncle's not at the front of the shop?!" yelled Uncle. "It means we have trouble in the shop!"  
  
"What kind of trouble?" Jackie asked while soothing his cheek.  
  
Uncle calmed. "It's Tohru. He can't stand up. Not since this morning. I've been trying to get him up. He's too heavy."  
  
"You didn't call 9-1-1?" Whap! "OW!"  
  
"Why need American doctors when you can cure Tohru with a Chi spell?"  
  
"Because...(groan) the Chi spell has not been found..."  
  
Jackie and Uncle turned their sights towards the kitchen, where Tohru had been laying. Jackie went closer to a semi-conscious Tohru, and put a hand up to the giant's brow.  
  
"You're not sick?"  
  
"It's my legs. I think I've been standing too long without sitting down."  
  
"Why can't you sit-? Oh, I understand."  
  
"Understand what?" queried Uncle.  
  
"At his size, where can Tohru sit in this shop?" answered Jackie. "Don't worry, Tohru. I'll try to call Captain Black?"  
  
"But why?" moaned the giant.  
  
"Perhaps Section 13 may allow me to use the Horse Talisman, to heal you up", said Jackie as he whipped up his cell phone. He dialed up the numbers and put the receiver up to his ear. Meanwhile, Uncle wrapped bandages around Tohru's legs. Tohru slightly winced, but relaxed.  
  
"Angus Black here," the voice came on the phone.  
  
"Black, I need access to the Horse Talisman. Tohru is injured."  
  
"You came at a bad time, Chan. Security got breached without warning. The Horse is gone."  
  
"What?" yelled Chan, his eyes wide open.  
  
"It's very odd. Only the Horse Talisman was stolen, but the rest were untouched. Section 13's currently in an emergency patrol. You don't have to help."  
  
"But-"  
  
"But I can be glad to help Tohru. I'll contact the best hospital in San Francisco to pick him up via chopper. You already have enough stress for one day."  
  
"Um, thank you, Black. I promise to contact you soon," finished Jackie as he put the phone back into the pocket.  
  
"So?" said Uncle.  
  
"Tohru will be forwarded to a hospital. Sigh But the Horse Talisman is gone, so I will give Section 13 two hours to retrieve it. After that, I will join on the search."  
  
"Thank you for the help, Jackie Chan. You were always on the good side of things", mumbled Tohru, smiling weakly.  
  
"One more thing," proclaimed Uncle. "Who will be paying for the medical bills? I don't even have enough for a Toyota Ford!"  
  
Jackie's eyes rolled. "Those are two different..." Whap! "Ow! Okay, okay...I will pay. I've got more than enough from the university and Section 13."  
  
Ding-Ding!  
  
The bells on the front door had rung. Someone had come into the shop.  
  
"Must be Jade. I better explain to her what has happened to `T-Man'." said Jackie, as he momentarily left the kitchen.  
  
"Jade, Tohru..." Jackie stopped when he saw who it really was.  
  
It was Tohru's mother.  
  
THE LIFE BEFORE THE PARTY  
  
Chapter II: Convergence A  
  
******************************************************************************  
  
Mama Tohru hadn't changed since she and Jackie last met. She was still her pudgy, black haired, onion-headed self, but that was always how Uncle described her.  
  
"Hmm..." She pondered at the shop. "Looks like the roach motel is cleaner than before," she mused in her scratchy tone.  
  
Uncle was aggravated at her return. They hadn't come to any terms. "Roach motel WAS cleaner, but now giant roach has crawled her way back in."  
  
"UNCLE!" scolded Jackie. He turned his attention to Mama Tohru. "I know you want to see your son, but I'm afraid Tohru-"  
  
"AAH!" Mama Tohru's eyes bulged at what she saw in the kitchen; her son, lying on the floor, apparently unable to stand up. "What have you done?!" she roared at Jackie and Uncle, causing their hair to sway behind as if swept by a gust of wind. It took both men a while to straighten their hairstyles back as they were.  
  
"Mommy?" said Tohru, for he could still see her from where he was.  
  
"My little boy, what has the billy goat and his jack...donkey of a nephew been doing to you?" Mama Tohru asked in a softer, but evidently angry, tone. She put her hands up to her son's face with a sweet, motherly caress.  
  
"I can explain", spoke Jackie urgently. "Tohru has momentarily lost his footing. He can't walk, but I'm sure I'll take him where doctors can treat him. I'll even pay for the bills, free of worries."  
  
"He's telling the truth, mommy", said Tohru.  
  
Mama Tohru quieted down even more. "I..." she bowed her head down a bit. "If what you say is true, then I'm sorry for acting too fast. You still do care for my child."  
  
Jackie smiled. "I always will."  
  
"However", said Mama Tohru with her "evil eyes", "while Jackie cares for others beside himself, it seems the billy goat can't even remove the fleas off his back."  
  
Uncle was mad. "Urr! Don't you know that I don't-"  
  
Jackie put his hand on Uncle's shoulder, and whispered, "Uncle, Tohru is hurt. If you don't want to hurt his feelings, don't hurt his mother's."  
  
For once, Uncle quieted down, without hitting Jackie with two fingers. He still groaned to himself.  
  
Jackie turned. "Uncle already says he is sorry. There will be doctors coming within a few minutes."  
  
No sooner did he say this when members of the hospital entered the shop. The 600-pound giant had to be hoisted by 20 men before being placed on a stretcher. The chopper slowly carried the stretcher off towards the hospital, located 10 miles away.  
  
As Jackie, Uncle, and Mama Tohru watched the chopper disappear from view, Jackie turned to Uncle. "Only 30 minutes till I help find the Horse Talisman. Uncle, be sure when Jade returns, you tell her where Tohru is, but not where I will be going." Jackie pulled up a coat and grabbed the car keys.  
  
"Wait", Uncle said. "You going already?"  
  
"Section 13 is a half-hour away," Jackie replied as he set the car into ignition, and drove off, leaving Uncle and Mama Tohru alone. For a while, everything was so quiet as afternoon turned to evening.  
  
"Shouldn't you be staying somewhere, except here?" asked Uncle, eyeing Mama Tohru warily, not uncomfortable that he stood next to her, of all people.  
  
"Where can I go? Because of all the racket, I didn't ask Tohru where my hotel would be."  
"AAIIIYAAHHH!" yelled Uncle as he tried to rip his hair. But that hurt, so he stopped rather quickly.  
  
******************************************************************************  
  
A/N: Why is the Horse Talisman missing? Will there be a one-year celebration? What greater role will Mama Tohru play in the story? Why is Mama Tohru called the way she is? Wait a minute...That's because the series doesn't have a name for her, doi! See you in the next chapters! 


	2. III

A/N: By now, the Extremo Luchadore is aware that this has been a huge buildup so far, and I must warn you that the buildup's only getting bigger. I hope this series will encompass a wide cast of characters, so if action is your game, beware. The game has yet to begin...  
  
Jackie Chan Adventures comes live at the Toonami Dome thanks to Sony and Kids WB, but for now, they have been featured in this fanfic.  
  
Chapter III: Convergence B  
  
Jackie ran into the phone booth leading to Section 13. Activating the secret number, Jackie zoomed down to Captain Black's elite base of operations. No sooner than he had entered the phone booth when the elevator speeded breaking any previous records of its kind. Jackie screamed until his head banged onto the ceiling. When the elevator finally came to a slow, the Chan Man's semi-conscious body fell out of the elevator into Section 13.  
  
Jackie was awaken by a voice. "Looks like you've experienced our emergency phase of the covert elevator."  
  
Jackie turned to see Captain Black, who looked at him with his usual deadpan face.  
  
"However," added Black, "I should have advised you about the safety belts. How's your friend Tohru going?"  
  
Jackie flipped his legs so he stood straight up in front of the captain.  
  
"He's going nowhere, but he'll be fine. Let's get down to business, Black. What can you tell me about the Horse Talisman?"  
  
"It's good to have you around, Chan, because this case may be up your alley. Follow me. But first, wear these." Black handed to Chan spiked boots. The archaeologist narrowed an eyebrow in stupefaction, but agreed, carrying his regular shoes along with him.  
  
******************************************************************************  
  
Jackie and Black proceeded to the Talismans Vault, where all of the talismans had been safeguarded behind massive steel doors, invisible trip lasers, and touch-sensitive defense mechanisms. The vault hardly looked indestructible anymore. It had become a gnarled twisted corridor showered with crystalline rocks. Everywhere Jackie passed, the walls seemed to reveal sculptures of unspeakable shapes, shapes that were sharp to the edge and cold to the touch. If hell ever froze over, this was it.  
  
******************************************************************************  
  
"Someone had put the vault into cold storage", began Captain Black, as the spikes in his boots stabbed through the frigid layer on the floor. "At first, we thought it was a Dark Hand member, probably in the possession of a reverse-atomic implement, a freeze gun, if you will. But one of the onlookers locked in combat with the culprit, and that's when we knew we were dealing with an otherworldly monster."  
  
Jackie slightly wrapped his own arms around himself. Even as a martial arts expert, he couldn't handle sub-zero temperatures. "W-W-What did it look like? A bat? A dragon? Did it wear armor?"  
  
"Only the bold onlooker knows for sure. The creature moved far too quick for the rest of us to get a clear look. It also froze wires to our security, meaning we're off surveillance for weeks. But once it left the building, the Horse Talisman vanished. We must now assume that the creature has it."  
  
"This onlooker. Can I meet him?" asked Jackie.  
  
"The creature froze part of his face and an arm, but by now, he's recovering. Matter of fact, he wants to talk to you."  
  
"Me? Now?"  
  
******************************************************************************  
  
Jackie Chan entered the Section 13 medic room. The bold onlooker's face could not be seen, for he had kept a dry towel wrapped around him while being seated on an adjustable chair. The onlooker was huge, probably 400 pounds, at least. He had rippling muscles diffused across his chest, his arms, and his legs. The onlooker (and Jackie) remained quiet as doctors administered a red lazer beam that outlined his right arm, the only area still frozen. Once the outline was complete, the ice surrounding the arm shattered into pieces across the chalk-white floor. The onlooker attempted to motion all of his fingers.  
  
"Careful," advised Dr. Kepler as he removed his goggles. "Your forelimb may have been spared, but it will require a few hours to fully operate in its normal function." Kepler put a small tub of warm water on the arm rest, and put the onlooker's right arm on it.  
  
"Muchos gracias, Kepler," replied the relieved onlooker.  
  
"El Toro Fuerte?" exclaimed Jackie.  
  
"Senor Jackie, you are here," the wrestler spoke in delight as he turned his face towards the sound of Chan's voice, the towel still on his head.  
  
"Um, why do you keep that towel on your head?"  
  
"Because while that gringo was grappling upon me, he dare froze El Toro Fuerte's mask!" The wrestler clenched a fist on his left arm. "Until the mask is recovered in the Section 13 laundry, El Toro Fuerte dons this towel, for no luchadore must ever unveil his face."  
  
"I would like to ask you why you are in Section 13, but priorities first. What did the attacker look like?"  
  
"The gringo? He was not as large as I am, but he had the strength of two or three men. He had fur as white as the most precious goats in Mexico. His hands were of thin, bony fingers, yet they threw me farther than any luchadore had in my lifetime. He even glared at me with eyes darker than blood. I must admit; he was wise to strike my arm, for he knew those are half of El Toro Fuerte's defense."  
  
"Hmm...Is that all you could remember?" inquired Jackie, his thumb and index finger supporting his chin.  
  
"I am only a hombre."  
  
"Sometimes I forget."  
  
El Toro chuckled, before straightening his throat. "However, I believe the gringo did have help. Before I came to Section 13, I thought I saw one of the Dark Hand's minions driving near the area. The one called Finn. He drove away from sight, but I doubt he could ever find Section 13. Sorry if I was wrong."  
  
"It's alright, El Toro. It is strange that the Dark Hand would go through all that trouble just to steal one talisman, but it's a start. And Valmont may still be located near his less-than-authentic hideout.  
  
"Captain Black," spoke Jackie, "I'll need your assistance to the Helms Fish Cannery. I believe the Dark Hand may have a connection with the culprit, even if Valmont's no longer possessed by Shendu."  
  
"You got it, Jackie," Black replied. "Men, let's move!"  
  
******************************************************************************  
  
Jackie, Black and several Section 13 officers made their way through the purported hideout of Valmont. Hopefully, Valmont hadn't the time to flee the cannery and select a better, farther dominion. As quick as a flash, the Helms Fish Cannery was completely surrounded.  
  
Black loaded a pistol, and handed a communicator, which could plug onto Jackie's ear. "Alright, Jackie, you better move in first, since you've handled Valmont better than any of us. If he sicks in his demon freezer, remember that we'll be packing the heat."  
  
Jackie nodded, and looked up at the cannery. Bouncing his feet off a chimney and a utilites pole, he effortlessly made his way to the flat roof. Just as he hoped, there were foldable windows at the top.  
  
Staring through the windows, Jackie noticed there were lights inside. Someone was there. At once, Jackie made out the shapes of several prone bodies on the floor. He was astonished. It was Valmont and his Enforcers. "Black", he called out. "The Dark Hand. They're-"  
  
Suddenly, two strong legs pushed Jackie's back, sending him crashing right through the window. Slivers of glass flew and cut into his face, but painful as they were, Jackie had little time. He managed to see a rope suspended onto a pulley. As he fell, he gripped onto the pulley before facing certain doom on the floor. He suddenly saw the monstrous creature El Toro Fuerte had confronted, rushing toward him in a hasty pace. Quickly, Jackie jumped off the pulley, and then threw the 10-pound hook straight towards the creature. The hook struck the monster in its belly, and sent it flying to the wall opposite where Jackie stood next to.  
  
Upon Jackie's abrupt failure to communicate, Black yelled out to the officers. "Storm in!"  
  
"Yes, we will," spoke a grim voice, followed by the unmistakable "chik-chak" of a weapon. Black and the rest could do little, especially when someone had them behind by gunpoint, or worse.  
  
"Killer Bee Rockets," continued the voice. "The name stinks, the blast stings. Put down your arms, all of you."  
  
One of the officers dropped his revolver onto the floor to whip out another gun from his pocket, only to have that gun disappear in a burning flash.  
  
"Better not", warned the armed man. Wisps of smoke clearly arose out of a miniature weapon, which was strapped around the same hand carrying the rocket launcher. "I've heard of people carrying two arms on both hands. That's why I keep two on one."  
  
Black gritted his teeth, and cursed inside himself. Things were going rockbottom.  
  
******************************************************************************  
  
Like a cruise missile, Jackie flew onto a pile of crates, which exploded into innumerable splinters upon his impact. As the archaeologist groaned and rubbed his head, the monster spewed a beam of ice, and Jackie immediately leapt out of the way. He had known what this bestial force was; it was a wendigo, a legendary Asian primate with a frigid breath. What could it want from the Horse Talisman?  
  
No sooner did Jackie avoid his fate as an ice sculpture when his right foot landed on a rectangular waste-basket. Jackie groaned and shook his foot furiously to remove it, but his eyes suddenly caught the wendigo charging after him for a mortal blow. He turned to face the creature and thrust his foot forward, sending the wastebasket towards the wendigo's face. The wendigo swiftly latched its bony hands onto the metallic object, only to taste its steel presence as Jackie spun another kick through the wastebasket, denting it beyond recognition. The creature bellowed in pain and held up its face.  
  
"Black, I could use some of that heat about now!" yelled Jackie on the communicator, which he quickly noticed was slightly torn from the shards of window glass he fell through. Throwing away the device, he turned his attention to the bodies of the Dark Hand members. He checked the pulses; they were only unconscious.  
  
Valmont's eyes slowly opened, but when he saw Jackie standing next to him, he yelled "Chan!"  
  
Assuming Valmont gave a warning, Chan looked behind and saw the wendigo diving straight at him with a fist. In panic, he hastily grabbed Valmont's body as a shield as Valmont felt a collision pound his chest.  
  
"OOOOOoooooohhhhh! Ohh..." Valmont bemoaned as he fell unconscious again.  
  
"Ah!" Jackie exclaimed as he dropped Valmont to the floor. "Um...Sorry? BWAH!"  
  
The wendigo inhaled a deep breath, and exhaled a shower of ice across half the building. Chan's fists bounced up and down, and his feet raged across the floor, and then hopped from one crate to another, as a chilly environment slowly encircled him.  
  
Outside, Black's momentary captor was growling in impatience. He spoke toward the strapped gun on his hand. "No time! Nothing's to be gained here, not anymore!"  
  
******************************************************************************  
  
The wendigo suddenly stopped in its tracks and reverted back to the roof. Jackie questioned the change in movement, but instinctively ran toward the roof. Before he was able to give chase to the monster, a vast gleam of white light apparently surrounded the Helms Fish Cannery. Jackie was quick to shut his eyes, and after the bizarre moment had come to pass, he leapt over the roof, and saw the Section 13 officers, and Angus Black, lying down, having fallen to a potent, but not deadly, flash contraption.  
  
Jackie let out a heavy sigh of disappointment. The worst may not yet have arrived.  
  
To be continued... 


	3. IV-V

A/N: The Extremo Luchadore is aware that the cast is going beyond anything he has ever imagined. It's too bad Jackie Chan Adventures is still owned by Kids WB and Sony, but maybe someday, the Extremo Luchadore will be inspired to make his own show. One about a winged demon, perhaps?  
  
Chapter IV: Convergence C (Alternate title: Another convergence?)  
  
"For once, the billy goat hasn't tried to rid me off the roach motel", spoke Mama Tohru without directly eyeing Jackie's uncle.  
  
"That is because billy goat doesn't want to make mess in his shop!" yelled Uncle, as he was walking from one room of the antique shop to another, hoping to pass the time without staying next to the screechy old woman. "Jade will be coming very soon, so don't skitter or I will use a can of Raid!"  
  
"Hmmph! Loud old brute."  
  
"It takes one to know one!"  
  
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"  
  
Uncle held his ears ever so tightly, and stormed right next to Mama Tohru with fury searing in his bespectacled eyes. "What is the matter with you?! I ought to call the cops; you are murder to my ears!"  
  
"A thief!" screamed Mama Tohru.  
  
Uncle turned to the shop entrance, and saw a 400 pound man, in a business suit and a red mask bordered with gold marks, standing silently. Uncle gasped and snatched a broom right next to him, and rotated the broom in perfect execution. "You will not steal from Uncle's shop! Didn't you read the sign? 10% off everything!"  
  
El Toro looked at them in confusion, and slightly shook his head.  
  
"Must I tell you once more, Uncle of Jackie Chan? El Toro Fuerte is no thief. I am a luchadore. Please tell this to your wife."  
  
"Wife? Wife?! WIFE?!" Uncle was so mad he threw the broom down and crossed his arms over one another. "That woman is not my wife! She is Tohru's mother! Or maybe not...I cannot see how Tohru was raised by a giant roach!"  
  
"It take one to know one!" barked Mama Tohru.  
  
"What is THAT supposed to mean?" Uncle replied.  
  
"Stop! I am terribly sorry, for the misunderstanding. But if you're Tohru's mother, where is Tohru?" El Toro Fuerte entered the shop.  
  
"Stop there at once, and stay there!" cried Uncle. El Toro sighed as he reluctantly halted.  
  
"My boy Tohru is in doctor's care", explained Mama Tohru. "He will remain strong as he always has. Nothing will ever stop him. I ought to meet him again, ask him where my luxury hotel is."  
  
"Eh, good riddance!" said Uncle, as he grabbed the room and instinctively brushed across the floor, without any thought where to sweep the dust to.  
  
"I would gladly drive you to the hospital, if you wish," offered El Toro Fuerte.  
  
"I do not need help from a thief...but thank you anyway," said Mama Tohru in a much gentler tone, as she slowly made her way outside to call a taxi.  
  
El Toro turned back to Uncle. "By the way, senor, I have met with Jackie. He is stopping the Dark Hand as expected." He held up his bandaged right hand. "But I can't be of help to him for a while. It will not be long, thankfully."  
  
"Eh, thieves aren't such good help anyway. One more thing; what are you doing in San Fransisco?"  
  
"Has Jackie or Jade not told you? One week from today, the J-Team will be a year old. There will be a celebration, for one year of conquering evil. So I have heard from nina Jade."  
  
"So. Jade invited you?"  
  
"She called me. Si, senor."  
  
Sigh. "Then Jade may have called Viper, and Paco too."  
  
"Is that bad, Uncle of Jackie?" Whap! "Oh!"  
  
"Of course it is bad! An antique shop is not a restaurant! It will take more than a broom to fix back the shop."  
  
"I am sure that the antique shop won't be the place for the celebration." Whap! "Oh!"  
  
"Of course the antique shop will be used. Don't you know what they serve at restaurants these days? You should be glad Uncle is telling you this!"  
  
El Toro was scratching the top of his masked head. "Well," he began uneasily, "I've made my way to San Francisco, and it will be good to meet everyone again. Paco's found himself a senorita in China, during my world tour. He will be back in a few days. Viper's always a mystery. I know not where she is.  
  
"I will be staying in...next...to the shop, just in case Jade or another amigo arrives," El Toro Fuerte remarked as he stood outside, looking at the starry sky.  
  
"Urrr! When did my shop become a pit stop for roaches and thieves?" griped Uncle.  
  
******************************************************************************  
  
"New world record in 5, 4, 3..." said Jade as she jubilantly sped across San Francisco in her teal blue-scooter. School always felt like a prison to her; once stuck, you might as well go brain dead in front of the teacher and hope someone else pulled the fire alarm, so everyone can ditch their way out. But of course, that never happened, and in the end there were 500-word essays to be turned in the next day. Good news was, this happened to be the end of the school year, so her essays for the day would be her last. Then again, they were also Finals.  
  
"...2, 1...Yeeess!" Jade finished as her scooter entered into Uncle's Rare Finds. Her eyes, at the last moment, caught El Toro Fuerte pondering at her speedy self, and that broke her focus. "Whoaaa!" She crashed right onto floor-sweeping Uncle, who yelled in wide surprise as he and Jade spun around one another like two halves of a wheel.  
  
El Toro motioned into the shop, regardless of Uncle's orders. "Jade! Uncle of Jackie! Are you okay?"  
  
"It's okay, El Toro," smiled Jade. "Uncle broke my fall."  
  
"It was nothing," groaned Uncle as he pressed both hands onto the small of his back, hoping he hadn't twisted the spine.  
  
"This is so cool!" Jade spoke. "El Toro, you came! A lot sooner than I thought, but that makes it better!"  
  
"Si, Jade," replied El Toro. "Do not worry, Paco and Viper will be following me soon, I believe."  
  
"Cool! Hey, wait a minute...Since when was Paco not with you?" Jade asked with a skeptical, narrow-eyed face.  
  
"Since he had a senorita, in China, I may add."  
  
Jade's bronze eyes bulged like never before. "No...Way. Paco's got a girlfriend?! That is so not right! How can he possibly find someone who agrees with anything he says?"  
  
"What are you talking about?!" exclaimed Uncle. "I can not find anyone who agrees with what I say, especially thieves and cockroaches!"  
  
"Um..Don't worry, Jade," El Toro Fuerte assured. "One day, that special senor will fly into town."  
  
"Pssh!" Jade blew on her bangs, scowling. "I wished he could fly in now!"  
  
"Eh, teenagers", moaned Uncle as he left the site of the conversation. "One more thing," he addressed Jade, "Jackie will return once horse is back in its stable."  
  
"You mean the Horse Talisman is gone!?" Jade hurriedly turned to exit the antique shop. She was running with all her might, but El Toro's arm kept a hold of Jade's shoulder.  
  
"No, nina Jade. Jackie knows what he is up against. He will be back. Until then, we should meet Tohru. Your giant friend broke his leg, so he is in the hospital."  
  
"Good!" said Uncle. "You've stopped Jade." He pointed a broom again in threatening fashion. "Now let go of her, thief!"  
  
Jade moved off of El Toro on her own. El Toro had no desire to stop her. "Oh, alright," she resigned, "but I'm doing this because you're here and T-Man's the bomb." El Toro smiled through the luchadore mask.  
  
******************************************************************************  
  
Chapter V: Divergence A  
  
"This may sting a mite," spoke Dr. Kepler as he applied Jackie Chan's eyes with an astringent. Chan was back in the doctor's room at Section 13. "The flash didn't affect you from an imminent radius, so your cornea and retinal conditions will be fairly prevalent."  
  
"Prevalent?"  
  
"Normal, to the unscientific mind."  
  
Jackie winked several times so the astringent would take its effect. "Thank you, Kepler. But how is Black and the other officers?"  
  
"Worse than you can conceive. The intensity of the electromagnetic device rendered their optics momentarily inept."  
  
"Blind? For how long?"  
  
"Probably 120 hours, but the duration could increase."  
  
Jackie was more worried than ever. There may be no one-year anniversary for the J-Team at this rate. Everybody whose presence he had appreciated was becoming the worse for wear, all because of the Horse Talisman. Perhaps he had to give up the search then and there, so that Uncle, Jade and the others will be fine. But giving up was nowhere in his mental vocabulary.  
  
"I need a lead to the Horse Talisman. Where is Valmont and the Enforcers?"  
  
"The Dark Hand? Good luck catechizing them," Kepler mused with uncomfortable sarcasm. "Their cerebral functions have been subdued, could take 720 hours to regain mentality." He eyed Jackie. "30 days, to you."  
  
Jackie groaned in frustration that he had never felt before. He wanted to hit something, someone, but nothing would come out of violence at this time.  
  
"Sigh. I will go talk to Captain Black, and since he's in the same hospital as Tohru, I will meet the giant as well."  
  
"O.K. See you."  
  
"That's the simplest thing I've heard from you in my entire life," chuckled Chan as he paced his way out of Section 13.  
  
To Be Continued...... 


	4. VI

A/N: Tajeri Lynn the Extremo Luchadore once again brings to you the next step in the insanely long series following Jackie Chan and a cast of others. The show "Jackie Chan Adventures", however, belongs to Kids WB and Sony Television. Alas, it seems the Enforcers save Hak Foo are gone. Grrr...Guess that means they'll have to do work at the Imaginary Center live on Fanfiction.Net.  
  
Chapter VI: Resurgence  
  
Jackie had entered in the San Francisco Medical Center, where Captain Black and his officers were recovering from the blinding assault at the Helms Fish Cannery. The rooms would have been sterile as the white hues were it not for the bustling nurses and doctors, rushing in all directions to ensure lives that were about to fade into the unknown, and then some. Jackie kept excusing himself every square inch he walked through the third story hallway. He felt like a lost ball being kicked by kids; nobody really knew or cared which way he went, but just that he went. And it just so happened that Tohru, Black, and the incapacitated Dark Hand were recovering at the same level.  
  
"Room 372. Angus Black," said Jackie after reading numbers from one end of a wall to another.  
  
The room had no doctors present, but Black surely was there, albeit he didn't look familiar. That might've been because a cotton wrap was secured firmly around his emerald green eyes, which at the time can see nothing but endless black. For the moment, Black was lying on a stretcher, sheets covering everywhere but his head. Jackie took it upon himself to look at the doctor's file next to the doorway. It turned out Black suffered instances of epileptic convulsions, but had regained equilibrium minutes ago.  
  
Jackie couldn't keep his friend waiting. "Captain Black? How are you doing?"  
  
"Things aren't looking bright here, Jackie...literally", groaned Black, who couldn't move for he was advised not to. "5 days, Jackie. 5 days till I get out, and already time passes by like it's a week. And it's going to get worse. I've notified my superiors, Jackie, told them that Section 13 is officially OOA, out of action."  
  
"What!?" Jackie's face turned ghostly pale, and he wasn't even in immediate danger.  
  
Black remained silent for a while, regretting his decision. "I know how you feel about this, and I don't like it one bit either. But all remaining resources and officers in the vicinity of Section 13 will be relocated to a new base. All except one. Kepler."  
  
"Kepler? The doctor?"  
  
"Rocket scientist, in my book," chuckled Black softly, before reverting to the facts. "Kepler has been perfecting an advanced laptop, one with the capacity usually contained within mega-computers. The laptop is permanently connected to Satellite X-3, a surveillance mechanism designed to pinpoint every square inch of earth, and Section 13 owns it. I've been hesitant to report the laptop to my superiors; they're not quite convinced demon activity is a worldwide matter. So I am entrusting Kepler and the X-3 Com to you, until I am finally able to leave the white house."  
  
Jackie Chan cocked his head. "Isn't the white house in Washington, D.C.?"  
  
"I meant the hospital, Jackie. It's white everywhere, in case you didn't notice."  
  
"Oh! Well, don't worry, I do see white...very much." laughed Jackie, scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment.  
  
"Don't worry, Jackie. My superiors wouldn't understand it to this day, either. Just go get the ice demon and his rocket fiend."  
  
"Then, I guess I'll be seeing you until I find the Horse Talisman. Wish me luck," Jackie smiled as he waved a hand to Black. He then paused, remembering Black couldn't see, so he went back to shake the captain's hand, before he departed.  
  
"Good luck," replied Black quietly as he rested his head back onto the snug pillow, heaving a huge sigh of contentment. Once Section 13 was back, he ought to install bed rests like these. There were never enough.  
  
************************************************************************  
  
Jackie proceeded to a room somewhat opposite to Black's own. It was where Tohru was to have his legs mended. But as he went inside, the room was empty, save for the typical medical supplies and a covered stretcher, indicating it was unused, or worse...  
  
"Tohru?" shouted Jackie in panic.  
  
"I'm right here, Chan."  
  
Jackie turned to see the giant sumo waving from the hallway. Tohru was secured on an enormous wheelchair, one that actually suited to his larger-than-life build. The giant's face was plastered with a gentle grin; happy to see Chan had arrived. And he wasn't alone. Jade, El Toro Fuerte and Mama Tohru had been conversing with him for quite a while, revealing what was going on while he was out.  
  
"Hmm," pondered Jackie Chan. "I guess I'll have to explain my matter as well."  
  
He stood next to his four close companions. "Good to see you Tohru. Looks like the doctors have found the best wheelchair for you."  
  
"Indeed they have," commented Tohru as he pressed a button on the armrest of the wheelchair. In moments, a straw rose out of the armrest, and then bent toward Tohru's mouth. He gladly sipped on the straw. "Sip. Mmmm...This wheelchair comes equipped with grape soda...My Favorite."  
  
"See what I meant, Tohru, my boy," spoke Mama Tohru. "American doctors like you even better than the billy goat!"  
  
"Heh-heh", chuckled Jackie. "Whatever you say..." He cleared his throat and retained his composure. "I all have something very important to tell you. All of you."  
  
Tohru, Jade, El Toro Fuerte and Mama Tohru looked at one another, before turning focus to the archaeologist.  
  
Jackie exhaled deeply. "The whole world may be in danger. The Horse Talisman was stolen by very dangerous people. Worse yet, Section 13 is unable to help. That is why Captain Black has assigned me Dr. Kepler to help me track the talisman. And, if I may say it, I need help from all of you."  
  
"Cool!" beamed Jade. "The J-Team is on a roll!" She raised a small fist in jollity.  
  
"Jade," Jackie began as he knelt down, patting her head, "you will be the best of help if you can finish that final essay, and get that nice little `A' you've always wanted", said Jackie with a toothy smile.  
  
"Oooh!" moaned Jade, as she turned around and crossed her arms.  
  
"Senor Jackie, I can assure you that more help will arrive. Viper and Paco will come just in time for this mission to begin. The one-year anniversary can wait, but not the world," spoke the luchadore El Toro Fuerte in a tone of stout willingness.  
  
"One-year celebration? Oh, the J-Team! All this time, I never knew!" exclaimed Jackie. Then he paused. "Um, did you say Paco will follow? Why isn't he here with you?" he questioned El Toro.  
  
"Because Paco's got a GIRLFRIEND," replied Jade with bitterness.  
  
"I am sure Paco's a very lucky boy", said El Toro with pride for his student.  
  
"So what does that make me, unlucky?" Jade shot narrowed eyes back at him.  
  
"Um, no...Of course not, that's not what I meant..." replied the luchadore slowly.  
  
"Of course that's what you meant," began Mama Tohru, hoping to join in on the conversation. "Only thieves would hurt little girl's feelings!"  
  
"Would that little nina be you?" said El Toro in rare sarcasm.  
  
"Watch it, big bull!" Mama Tohru viciously raised her arms in a martial-arts stance. "I can whup your butt from here to eternity!"  
  
Soon, El Toro, Mama Tohru and Jade began confronting each other, armed with their volley of verbal stabs. Fortunately, the hallway was empty, so no one heard them. Problem was, there was nobody to stop them.  
  
"This...I did not anticipate," sighed Tohru as he shook his head in disappointment, before activating the straw to drink more of that sumptuous grape soda.  
  
Jackie rubbed his face right and left, in frustration. "Uhhh! As if wendigos and Killer Bee Rockets weren't bad enough, now I have to stop three friends who've never argued together!"  
  
Tohru spit the grape soda in astonishment. He turned around to Jackie urgently. "DID YOU SAY KILLER BEE ROCKETS?"  
  
As if broken out of a trance, the disputing trio stopped their actions. It was especially good for El Toro: Jade and Mama Tohru were attempting bear hugs to wear him down.  
  
"You know of them?"  
  
Tohru's eyes narrowed in resent. "Killer Bee Rockets are called that way because they spread into smaller rockets when fired."  
  
"Whoa. Talk about the perfect swarm," said Jade.  
  
Tohru continued, this time addressing to Chan. "Remember the Yokunawa crime gang? The ones who tried to steal the Kyoto Octopus?"  
  
"How I wish to forget," Jackie replied.  
  
"When I had met the Yokunawas, they mentioned and even held KBR, named after substances for which even I can not recall, so Killer Bee Rockets were their nickname. The gang was planning to rob the Guggenheim in New York, joking that the KBR were to be used. Whether they would have done so is not important, because we stopped them. Nobody ever messes with your uncle and my mommy."  
  
"How right you are, my boy" said Mama Tohru, putting an affectionate arm around his neck. "But sometimes billy goat deserves push off cliff!"  
  
Tohru blinked at his mom's harsh words to his sensei, but proceeded. "Following their arrest, I became the prime witness against the gang. I even explained about the KBR, but no one else had heard of these weapons. And when the police and Section 13 investigated every Yokunawa hideout, it seemed there was no Killer Bee Rockets. Or so it seemed..."  
  
"What do we do?" said Jackie. "The Yokunawas are now in maximum security in Sacramento. How can we interrogate them?"  
  
"I'm not finished, Jackie. Please let me finish...Most of the Yokunawas were found guilty on many accounts of robbery and attempted murder, but not Boss Yokunawa's middle son, Kenzo `Skinny' Yokunawa."  
  
"Kenzo? `Skinny?'"  
  
"Large black hair, small eyeglasses, arrow-shaped nose? He also prefers the color purple among his tuxedos."  
  
"He not so tough", added Mama Tohru. "I threw him around like a rag doll, last I saw him."  
  
"He's not tough at all. Kenzo sold out his entire family. He claimed he was only forced to join his father's schemes for stealing the Kyoto Octopus. The court was convinced; Kenzo was the only Yokunawa found to have no previous relations with his family's crimes. So Kenzo served several months for aiding and abetting. But if there was anyone who knew the KBR better than anyone else, it was him. He bragged of them like he knew how to use them.  
  
"We must stop him, Chan. I fear he may want to target all of us, especially my mother", Tohru growled, slamming a clenched fist on the armrest.  
  
"Don't worry, T-Man," Jade ascertained. "No way Skinny's going to come within a mile of you or T-Mom. Right, Uncle Jackie?"  
  
"I doubt he wants to target us," Jackie deducted. "He went to the Dark Hand because they might've known about the Horse Talisman. It was only a matter of time before Kenzo and his wendigo pal found Section 13. But there was a disagreement with the Dark Hand, so Kenzo and the wendigo made sure there wouldn't be any ratting out. Skinny only wanted the Horse Talisman, the healer, when he could've taken the Dragon, the Pig, and so forth. He's trying to revive something or someone. But whatever needs being healed, it couldn't be done so under human hands."  
  
"Until I meet with Dr. Kepler, it is best that the rest of you stay in Uncle's Rare Finds, so I will see you there," Jackie concluded as he rushed his way out of the medical center.  
  
Everything was so tranquil once again. Then Jade and Mama Tohru shattered the silence by continuing their assault on El Toro Fuerte. "Help, senor Tohru!" shouted the luchadore. "They are trying to remove my mask. They must not see my face! Remove them from me at once!"  
  
"There's only so much I can do right now," replied Tohru as he calmly sipped grape soda.  
  
To be Continued...Again! 


	5. VII

A/N: The Extremo Luchadore once again...brings you...another installment...(snores, then wakes up) of "Life Before the Party". The updates will be slower because I'll be out of town for a few days, so I'm sorry to those really getting the hang of this. Oh, well. Let's continue on: "The Life Before the Party" comes to you live at the Imaginary Center on Fanfiction.Net. "Jackie Chan Adventures" is presented at the Toonami Dome thanks to Kids WB and Sony Television Entertainment.  
  
Chapter VII: Insurgence  
  
Kenzo Yokanawa and the Wendigo made their way into a dimly lit room, where another man had awaited their arrival. Kenzo was diligently wiping the dust off his precious purple tuxedo, entrusting his bestial ally to play around with a ball that bounced as its bony hands whacked it right and left. He could finally savor the moment, the moment that should've been his over a year ago.  
  
Their superior was inching closer to them, ever so silently.  
  
"Bow down", Kenzo addressed to the Wendigo, without actually sending it eye contact.  
  
The wendigo continued its little farce with the sphere.  
  
Kenzo rolled his eyes over and snatched the ball in midair. The wendigo growled, baring its gleaming canines as if ready to prey upon the ex-mobster.  
  
"You're wasting our time, both of us", spoke Kenzo in an impatient, but not angry, tone, considering he was the meekest of his infamous bloodline. "Let's get the rewards over with."  
  
"The rewards, I'm afraid, won't be in our grasps anytime soon," grumbled the superior, who kept himself from the lonely light bulb suspended above. "Time already has been wasted. The talisman's powers failed to accomplish the desired objective."  
  
Kenzo grimaced, and uneasily rubbed his left palm onto his right fist. "Why don't you come closer to the light, mister? We already know what you look like."  
  
"My eyes can't take so much light," retorted the superior, staying where he stood. "Back to the subject; it is preposterous that of all the tools we can acquire, even this potent magic has its limits."  
  
"Sigh. So what more do we do?" spoke Kenzo in disappointment.  
  
"Not we. I. I will inquire further on what we have. You could, of course, depart. There is nothing more required of you or our demented friend. But if you leave, what is to be earned from your efforts?"  
  
Kenzo was mad, but contained any sense to strike upon the superior, because he knew this one had a superior of his own. "Don't any of you understand? We don't have to put up with this charade. I know I can sneak into those rewards if given both your help." The wendigo turned to Kenzo, and nodded in agreement.  
  
"I can not risk that," spoke the superior, bowing his own head down. "Do you not recall how our Higher Order was able to grant our first wishes? The Order stands to the likes of which I have never seen or heard."  
  
"Or smelled. Sure, this Higher `Odor' gave us what we bargained for on the onset. But now I doubt that can ever happen again. Besides..." Kenzo turned to a square vault on the far side of the room, "already two have sneaked in, and Snowball and I had to stop them before they could stop the `Odor'."  
  
"A rare mishap, I presume," defended the superior. "But answer me this other question. Has Section 13 been destroyed, as you were told?"  
  
Kenzo gulped, and rearranged his glasses. "W-Well, the building pretty much is gone, but at least one of the witnesses could not be stopped."  
  
"Who?!"  
  
"His name is Jackie Chan, a China-man living in San Francisco. He stopped my family's crime spree, freed me from the workings of those fools, heh-heh. Don't worry, though. As long as we stay out of the ole U.S. of A., I doubt he'll even reach here."  
  
"Don't be sure of that", snapped the superior. "One of our captives keeps mentioning a `Jackie Chan' in her sentences, whilst the other indicates a friend of Chan's."  
  
Kenzo's eyes rose, and then slit. "Just how many people know this guy?!" he asked in disbelief.  
  
The superior pulled a device off his pocket and slid it across the table. "Here is your justification. I am expected to rectify the prime objective now. But be aware, for Jackie Chan won't be far." The superior disappeared into the black void.  
  
Kenzo stared at the void, as did the wendigo, until the ex-mobster turned his attention to the LCD device, of which he pushed the "on" button. The screen loaded an image of the two people locked within the vault. The captives were not aware that the ceiling was tinted so a large camera could keep track of their every word. One of them was a slender African-American woman in her mid-twenties, and her partner was an audibly non-stop boy who, despite the distressful situation, was very optimistic. A rope connected to the ceiling bound both from escape. It was no wonder that the most they could do was talk.  
  
"How does it look on your side?" asked the boy, after very brief silence.  
  
"Very boring. The usual, kid. Maybe we should play another game. If we manage to live that long," Viper spoke, staring at the ceiling.  
  
"No problemo, senorita. We will live," beamed Paco, "because El Toro Fuerte will take those gringos down!"  
  
"Don't you mean Jackie, Paco?" Viper turned to her companion.  
  
"What do you mean? El Toro is numero uno!" replied Paco as he rose up an index finger as his bound body could.  
  
Viper stared skeptically. "Jackie and I beg to differ."  
  
"El Toro."  
  
"Jackie."  
  
"El Toro."  
  
"Jackie."  
  
"El Toro."  
  
"Jackie."  
  
"El Toro."  
  
"Please...stop. Let's just presume BOTH will save the day. Deal, kid?"  
  
"Deal..." Paco acquiesced. "I know! Let's play 20 questions!"  
  
Viper shut her eyes wearily. "Is the answer `Jade'?"  
  
Paco frowned. "How did you ever guess?"  
  
"Third time, kid. Third time."  
  
"Oh, wait! Tic-Tac-Toe!"  
  
"TIC-TAC-TOE?" Viper spoke perplexed.  
  
"Si! I'll be Tic, you'll be Tac, and...oh, no. There's no one else to play Toe! Oh, WHY did it had to be us two?!"  
  
"When was the last time you played this game, Paco?"  
  
"Never. There's a first time for everything!"  
  
"Woo-pee..."  
  
Click!  
  
Kenzo turned off the device and could've thrown it down, but it was far too exceptional to just waste it on the floor. He instead resorted to the KBR launcher, checking it for any impurities. The wendigo had watched the device too, though it didn't take the footage that bitterly. It relaxed and actually sat on the ground, until Kenzo threw the bouncing ball back in its direction, of which it resorted to childish satisfaction.  
  
"I've got your angle, Chan-Man," murmured Kenzo. "If you do make it here, your friends won't."  
  
************************************************************************  
  
"What is the meaning of this?!" shouted Uncle as Kepler brought his laptop and electronic peripherals into the antique shop, followed by Jackie, Jade, El Toro, Tohru, and Mama Tohru.  
  
"The sentiment is mutual", sighed Kepler, as he plugged in his technology. "This is assuredly an initial period in my existence; I must tolerate 168 hours sans the necessary assets."  
  
Uncle's face froze, and then narrowed. "What are you talking about?!"  
  
"Dr. Kepler will be working here, for one week without pay. It will be the first time for him," explained Jackie.  
  
"Why is he in the shop? Don't you know who he is? A rock scientist!"  
  
Jackie sighed. "That's rocket scientist." Whap! "Ow!"  
  
"Are you my nephew, yes?" spoke the mad Uncle. "Then stay on my side!" he barked.  
  
"I should dislodge this gratuitous plug," Kepler observed as he glanced upon the ever-essential sockets. "Contrarily, I will be incapable of activating the X-3 Com module." He pulled off a plug, and instantly the room storing the mystical Chi knowledge lost its luster.  
  
"Don't shut it off...Don't shut it off!" yelled Uncle, his arms flailing desperately.  
  
"Uncle, calm down," spoke Jackie. "He is doing the right-BWAH!"  
  
Upon the pull of the plug, the room swarmed with small, black critters skittering from every thin gap between the books. Now it looked like a giant shadow had dominated the bookshelf, but of course it was no shadow.  
  
Jackie Chan, El Toro Fuerte, Kepler, Mama Tohru and Tohru stood there, jaws dropped, eyes focusing aghast on the sight before them. Jade held her mouth and ran off to the restroom, but since her stomach could take so much, she went to the kitchen instead. Uncle just grabbed a flashlight and began swinging the luminous commodity across the bookshelf, forcing the critters to escape back into the gaps.  
  
"Go away, little demons! You are not welcome at Uncle's Rare Finds!"  
  
"This is undoubtedly degrading," spoke up Kepler, turning to his new higher-up. "Chan, it is preferable that we proceed to your tenement. Apartment, if you will."  
  
"I...I will have to agree." Jackie said, backing away from the shop. "Um, Uncle, good luck stopping the little demons," he feigned a smile. "Kepler and I have decided not to invade on your privacy."  
  
"Privacy!?" shouted Jade, one hand still holding her chest. "Why think of privacy when roaches look wherever you go? Bleh!" She followed the departing doctor and archaeologist.  
  
"Hah!" said Mama Tohru, pointing a bitter finger at Uncle. "I knew you hadn't cleaned the roach motel."  
  
"Like I said," threatened Uncle, "only roach I want to stop stands in my way!" He grabbed the broom and directed it towards her as if to score a desirable mark.  
  
"Tohru, my boy!" she screeched. "Help me! Billy goat must've used broom to smash other roaches!"  
  
Mama Tohru immediately jumped onto her giant son's lap. Tohru actually sweated at Uncle's uninviting posture with the broom. He turned to El Toro Fuerte in unfamiliar hysteria. "El Toro, please help. I can't move the wheelchair when my mom's on me!"  
  
"Can you not move your mother off of you?" queried the luchadore in calmness.  
  
"I am frozen in fear", replied Tohru. "I have never seen sensei clean that broom!"  
  
El Toro sighed in exasperation. "Alright, Senor." He went behind Tohru to latch the hoisting bars of the handicap accessory, pulling Tohru and his mother to safety.  
  
"By the way, Uncle of Jackie", resolved El Toro as he was taking his leave, "You do not have to worry. As long as the shop's full of cucarachas, there is no need for the fiesta to take place here. Adios!" El Toro still had the sincerity to wave a thick hand to the shopkeeper.  
  
"Urrr! Come back for a piece of Uncle!" raged Uncle as he chased the trio out of the shop. El Toro was immensely fast for 400 pounds. He and the Tohrus were out of the horizon in a record speed that even rivaled Jade on a scooter.  
  
Uncle stood there in the doorway, gasping for breath, before clamoring one final cheap shot, hopefully one his companions listened to. "Well...wheeze, least now I know...gasp... thieves and roaches work together!"  
  
To Be Continued.....  
  
*  
  
*  
  
A/N: IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT! This message is being brought to you from "Extremo-Vision; if it's not extreme, then I'm not doing my job." Anyways, I've noticed "Jackie Chan Adventures" is ending their second season, but I'll be off to Las Vegas, site of the legendary WWF 2/3 Falls Match last year. This means that I won't be able to watch it or update my series "Life Before the Party" for several days. For those who haven't seen "Demon World, Part 1", don't read the following. But to those who have, here goes; I AM MAKING A BET concerning the final episode of the second season. If my intuition is correct, I won't have to do anything outside of my norms. But if I am wrong, I'll have to write a lemon! That's right, that less-than-squeaky-clean fic I swore never to ever do, for my favorite series!  
  
So here's my prediction for the season finale.  
  
Drumroll please. Badda badda badda badda badda...  
  
And I predict...  
  
That the Book of Ages will be used against the Demons so they never messed with the Chans in the first place! They will be out of here, for good!  
  
I'll be back on Sunday, so please forward your replies to [1]zatoshiro1@juno.com whether I won or lost, or send them along with the review of my latest chapter. This is the Extremo Luchadore, signing off!  
  
  
  
References  
  
1. mailto:zatoshiro1@juno.com 


	6. VIII

A/N: Extremo Luchadore launches into imagination with yet again another addition to "The Life Before the Party". "Jackie Chan Adventures" is presented to you from Sony Television and Kids WB. Now let's move on, amigos!

Chapter VIII: Occurrence

"I am very sorry for what happened back there," humbled Jackie Chan to his friends as he was driving them to his apartment.

"Um…Jackie?" pondered Jade.

"Yes?"

"Explain to me again why we have a van?"

Indeed, the archaeologist, his niece, Kepler, El Toro Fuerte, Tohru, and Mama Tohru were all along for the ride in a large, black mini-van packed with leather interior (those poor cows, Jackie thought). 

After 2 days of sheer insanity, talking to Jade had become a major relief to Jackie. At this rate, it was near salvation.

"Well," Jackie began, "Captain Black managed to secure a Section 13 vehicle to us, especially now that Section 13 has been stopped cold. It's good for carrying us all around, and it actually has something you will really enjoy."

"Cool!" said Jade. "Does it have missile launchers? Hyper-light speed? Cloaking device?!" she exclaimed in anticipation.

"No" smiled Jackie, as he pulled out a little door between him and Tohru. "A little freezer! Now you can enjoy your favorite treats without having to go home."

Jade frowned a big one. "Urr! That would be nice…if there were any treats inside!"

For purposes concerning his posture, Tohru was situated in the front passenger's seat, so that he could depart easily off the doorway once the destination was reached. He was sipping on more of the grape soda, occasionally peering his head out the window to enjoy the exhilarating breeze. As he said before, there was only so much he could do.

For the umpteenth time, Tohru peered his eyes quietly at his rear view mirror.

Jackie turned to the giant. "Is there something wrong, Tohru?"

"Hmmm…I don't know if you realize it, Chan, but there is a blue minivan right behind us."

"Ahh…I guess minivans are real popular nowadays."

"But this minivan's been following us since first glance."

Jackie laughed softly. "Don't worry, Tohru. I've been followed lots of times by drivers. It's all just coincidence. Let it go."

Tohru looked at him quietly, then stared back at the mirror.

"Perhaps you're right. It's gone. Sigh"

CRASH!

Had it not been for their safety belts, Tohru and Jackie would've been flung off their seats into doom. Jade and the others gasped as they turned to the windows, seeing nothing but the cloudy sky and the granite road. 

"What was that?!" spoke Jade.

CRASH!

Another resounding collision this time shattered Jackie's driver seat window into grains of glass, and left behind a gaping crater on the car. Jackie yelled in pain as the door bent forward and entrapped his legs. Holding the steering wheel with one hand, Jackie slightly knelt down to strain one free hand on his legs.

"Ah! My leg…is stuck on the gas pedal! BWAH!" He yelled, as he sat back up, and put both his hands to steer the minivan from dashing onto an unfinished detour. Everybody else held onto their cushioned seats, hoping the cushion wouldn't rip off from their tight grips.

"I missed the apartment!" Jackie panicked.

"So?" said Jade in annoyance. "At least whoever's hitting us won't know where we live!"

"That's true…But who IS hitting us?"

El Toro nearly lost balance, and almost could've crushed Mama Tohru had he not reached a hand onto an interior wall. Upon regaining his balance, he brazenly removed his own seat belt and motioned his hands onto the steering wheel.

"Release your legs, Senor Jackie!" he proclaimed. "I'll handle this raging beast!"

Jackie nodded acquiescently, and pulled his legs with more might than he ever handled on even a ninja.

CRASH!

But before he could, the door smashed even further. Jackie screamed as he felt his left leg nearly being bruised to the bone. The metallic joints, however, couldn't take any more of the impact, and the wind tore the insulated door off onto the side of the road, saving Jackie from a broken leg. Tohru and the others turned to see several other vehicles behind them careen atrociously onto one another, leaving tons of metal lying in the intersection, just because a door was flying towards them.

Jade gasped, and turned to Jackie. "This may be very weird, but I think that minivan behind us HAS a cloaking device!"

"Wished we had the same!" said Jackie as his legs motioned comfortably back into control. El Toro waited for Jackie to grasp onto the wheel, and slowly backed down.

"No means we could afford such," replied Kepler, pushing fingers onto a calculator. "If we preferred to install a optical-reflecting veil, it would come at a rate that the National Science Board couldn't even-"

"KEPLER!" shouted every passenger on the minivan in heart-pounding frustration.

"Oh…", Kepler put his machine down. "Sorry. Apology acknowledged?"

CRASH!

Jackie this time felt irritation instead of fear. Not knowing where the minivan actually was, he deliberately pressed onto the gas pedal to outdistant it. But just as he was about to do so, an arm came out of nowhere and nabbed Jackie's shoulder. Jackie screamed as he was pulled into nothingness.

His passengers watched the sight in untold awe, before noticing that no was around to drive the minivan!

El Toro tried to regain control of the wheel, but at the most inopportune moment, the minivan hit a guard-rail and caused El Toro to fall. Mama Tohru screeched and ran to the other end of the minivan to avoid the luchadore's 400 mighty pounds. Unfortunately, the plummet vibrated the interior and flipped the back door open! Mama Tohru, her hand latched onto the rear door handle for balance, was almost sent flying out into the streets at merciless speeds.

"AAAHHH!! Help me, thief!" she yelled.

"At least she recognizes my help," mused El Toro Fuerte as he gripped his bulging right arm onto her miniature hands, and heaved both Mama Tohru and the rear door back into the minivan.

Kepler had already jumped onto the driver's seat and began pushing the pedal. "I better decelerate, lest we will become highway stroganoff."

Jade's eyes went wide open at the announcement. "Hello, Kepler! Jackie's just been captured by the Invisibles! You can't slow down!"

"But I can not conceive of his whereabouts precisely!" yelled Kepler as he felt greater portions of wind rush through the open door, twisting his face and his scientist garb.

CRASH!

"Why is the vehicle still hitting us?" Tohru queried, as the vehicle this time hit his side of the minivan.

Suddenly to Tohru's astonishment, Jackie's bruised, upside-down face appeared in front of him. Jackie's face was being pushed out onto the street by a hand straining on his chin. A noise resembling a jab to the midsection was heard, and the hand lost its clutch on Chan. Jackie held out his arm, and Tohru opened the window to grab it, but Jackie was still too distant. Jackie groaned, quickly disappeared again, and he reappeared, this time swinging a fast food soda cup onto what was the front mirror of the cloaked vehicle! The soda revealed where the blue minivan was!

Tohru turned urgently to Kepler. "Kepler! Drive to the right now, steadily!" Kepler gave a quick glance, and turned the vehicle with his razor-sharp perception, keeping pace as much as his nervousness could handle. 

Tohru refocused on Jackie and finally grabbed Jackie, and with the strength he would normally give to a hated adversary, hoisted Jackie out of the mysterious void and back into the Section 13 automobile.

"Uncle Jackie!" said Jade as she hugged Jackie, who let out a groan of pain when she did it.

"Careful", moaned Jackie, "They tried to split my nether region…Ohhhh…"

Jade turned to Kepler. "Kepler, you are one for words. What did he just say?"

"Some definition I'd rather not disclose to you", he simply responded as he straightened his eyes toward the road. Now the van was speeding into the Golden Gate Bridge of San Francisco, but since it was afternoon, traffic was very minimal.

Tohru and Jackie sighed like they never sighed before, when the cock of a pistol pierced into their ears. Now the mysterious attacker was holding a gun, and there was no idea where he exactly was. "I didn't want to really end it like this, but now your friends are going to be road pizza as well."

Tohru suddenly felt his hand touch glass latched in the armrest of his wheelchair. He noticed what it was and threw it out the window. A half-used bottle of grape soda hit the upper frame of the invisible door, suddenly showering the attacker's face.

The attacker hollered and hurriedly wiped his face, but having taken both his hands of the steering wheel, the invisible minivan dashed in a straight bulls-eye toward a wall, scraping a few dull bits of concrete away. In seconds, it flung in a 455 degree-corkscrew manner onto the street, rendering the machine topsy turvy. The wheels continued rolling as if in desperation, but it stopped as if ultimately dead. Smoke trailed from the wreckage eerily, and faded just as it had began.

Kepler continued to drive the minivan until it was a good 500 feet from the destruction of the automobile. There was a small pit stop located at the exit of the bridge. When he stopped, he began wheezing rapidly. "This….is why…I don't…possess a driver's license…Whew!"

"That's the second simplest sentence you've ever said", ruminated Jackie as he ran toward the smoldering crash site. Regardless of the bruises he had suffered, he had to know what had become of those in the remains. 

"Is he crazy?" said Jade as she leapt out of the Section 13 minivan, only to have her shoulders suspended by El Toro.

"If he is crazy, do not follow him," advised El Toro as he placed the nina back into the minivan, and went out instead to catch up with the Chan Man.

Jade growled. "Does everybody have to be crazy but me?"

Jackie and El Toro rushed to the site, and they simultaneously ripped off the door. El Toro was about to peer in when Jackie touched his shoulder.

"Careful", warned Jackie in a whisper. "Kenzo and the wendigo were inside the minivan. They could still be armed and dangerous.

El Toro looked at Jackie, and noiselessly put his ear to the wreckage. "I think not, Senor Jackie", he mused seriously. "One of them is barely breathing. The other…"

Jackie gasped, but El Toro took the risk (and the stomach) of looking inside. The luchadore turned right and left inside, and proclaimed, "Jackie, there is no one here but a little nina! Help me get her out."

Jackie and El Toro carefully threw off some shrapnel before pulling the girl out to safety. She was a little girl in a blue Chinese outfit, wearing a long, braided ponytail on each side of her petite head.

Jackie held a hand to his forehead in disbelief. "Xu Lin?!"

El Toro's eyes peered through the mask in equal reaction. "Senorita of Paco?!"

To be Continued… 

A/N: Okay, so maybe I was wrong; Tajeri Lynn the Extremo Luchadore didn't want to leave you amigos hanging onto my story for a week. So for today, I have posted what is definitely my last update for the week! Extremo Luchadore knows the fans must get what they want, and so it shall be. See you around, and muchos gracias! 


	7. IX

A/N: Now, it is getting good…Tajeri Lynn the Extremo Luchadore once again propels the cast of "Jackie Chan Adventures" into more crackling adventure. JCA is presented to you live from the Toonami Dome by Kids WB and Sony Television Entertainment. Now let's tag in the J-Team!

The Life Before the Party

Chapter IX: Alliance

Jackie Chan sighed as his eyes peered towards the horizon from all sides. The sun was already giving way for the moon to arise, signaling the end of the third day of chaos, in record time, so it seemed. Chan and his five acquaintances had barely survived a reckless onslaught on the roads of San Francisco. It only took an hour, and within that period it took every ounce of energy off of them. But what was even more shocking was that a sixth acquaintance, one he only met for a day, had abruptly appeared in the passenger seat of a terrifying automobile, next to an even more terrifying driver.

"Ohh..Ohhh..." a girl's soft voice broke Chan's concentration.

"Xu Lin!" exclaimed Jade in relief.

Jackie smiled and turned to see Xu Lin resort back to her senses. Normalcy had conquered all. The little girl had been resting on El Toro Fuerte's firm, comfy lap, since the minivan would have been a potential target should Kenzo strike again. Jade had been pacing back and forth as if doing so would appease spirits to spare Xu Lin's life. Tohru and his mother were resting idly by the bridge, as the bay remained the only sign of peace left in the area. Meanwhile, Dr. Kepler, donning oversized goggles, was picking wires in the minivan as it had burned its fuse severely during the chase of the fast and the furious.

"Yeesh," exclaimed Kepler as sparks flew smack dab onto the goggles. "Darn these irksome particle arrangements."

"Where...am I?" Xu Lin rubbed her eyes as she looked upon the unfamiliar American surroundings.

"Please, stay down, senorita", spoke El Toro Fuerte in a fatherly tone. He slowly turned to Jackie with a look of resentment. "Those attackers are no luchadores. They dare attack us from behind, and leave poor Xu Lin under their wrath."

"No!" screamed Xu Lin as she held her head in deep, head-numbing intensity.

"Xu Lin, what's wrong?!" said Jade. She had known very well what Xu Lin had been capable of, but could she still have that power within her?

Xu Lin frowned deeply and her eyes were on the verge of tears. "Even if I am away from them, you are still not safe."

"Them? Who is them?" asked Jackie.

"I...can not remember all their names. There are four of them. I think one of them is Kenzo. Oh, it hurts to remember!"

"Xu Lin, please", Jackie knelt down in front of her and held onto her shoulders. "I know that this is a very rough time for you. But we first have to know why you were with them, and if you can, what they are trying to do. Please, help us stop them."

"I will, Jackie", Xu Lin spoke in between her stressful gasps and her eye rubs. She settled down,  and everyone around huddled to hear her story.

"It all began when I was in China, after I had been freed from the curse of the Lotus Temple. I met El Toro Fuerte and Paco, two wrestlers from Mexico who were moving all across Asia. Paco was a nice boy. So energetic, so light, so free. I wanted to be like him, but over the days he and I met, that like became love."

"You actually saw _something_ in Paco?" exclaimed Jade. "He is so full of himself."

"But Paco's very brave, like his master El Toro Fuerte."

El Toro beamed a gargantuan smile in pride. "How right she is, nina Jade."

"Well, in case you didn't know, Jackie's been doing way better."

"Nuh-uh. El Toro is as strong as the ox."

"Jackie."

"El Toro."

"Jackie."

"El Toro."

"Jackie."

"El Toro!" exclaimed Xu Lin as she raised her innocent tone to its extreme volume. Amazingly, she actually forced Jade to cower away from the conversation in astonishment.

"Okay, okay," began Jade as she evenly tiptoed back where she was. "For now, Xu Lin, you win. But it's only because I don't want you to go all sub-zero on me."

"Jade!" scolded Jackie Chan. Jade smiled and raised her shoulders up innocently. Jackie slowly focused back to Xu Lin. "Please go on."

"Paco and I became the best of friends. But strong as Paco was, I wanted to be strong too. I wanted to make myself the equal he deserved.

"El Toro Fuerte then told me and Paco that he was going to America, and that we should follow him soon after. As I was walking down to the village where Paco was packing for the journey, a coated man came up to me and offered to make me strong. All he needed, he said, was for me to meet him by the edge of the island."

"This already smells fishy to me," added Jade.

"Jade!" scolded Jackie again.

"I decided that it was worth trying. Then I could surprise my love when we came to America. But....", Xu Lin wiped her dry eyes as if anticipating wetness, "it was a trick. The coated man didn't help me, he...he...made me a monster again." Xu Lin fell down and began sobbing in puddles.

Jackie's face distorted in frustration that Xu Lin had suffered more than enough, before asking an urgent question. "This monster, Xu Lin. Can it be stopped?"

Xu Lin's hands were still locked on her face, but she can still speak softly. "When it feels great pain, it will go back to sleep. But it will always wake up and I will become the monster. The coated man told me that if I did what he wanted, then he would remove the curse. He wanted me to enter America to steal a talisman. So I did."

"Urr..!" said Jade, as she packed her magical know-how. "Xu Lin, that man had a lot of nerve. He pulled off another trick on you! He didn't tell you that the talisman you stole could've removed the curse off of you."

Xu Lin gasped, and held her head and squinted in pain. "Why does nothing ever come out right?!" she bawled.

El Toro hesitated to speak in front of a scorned girl, much more a girl he knew as a friend. "....Xu Lin, I apologize for any rudeness, but El Toro must also know where Paco is. Why hasn't he tried to speak to me? He has been quiet these past three days."

Xu Lin bowed her down as if in defeat. "Paco......was captured."

"WHAT?!" yelled Jackie, Jade and El Toro Fuerte in unison.

"The coated man took in Paco and a dark-skinned woman when they entered into his place. He wasn't happy, and he had them placed behind a big metal door. I fear they are gone."

"Dark-skinned woman?" pondered Jackie, before realization struck his mind. "AHH! Viper!"

"Viper's been kidnapped? The master ex-thief? No way!" said Jade.

"Did you hear that?" El Toro motioned his hand toward Mama Tohru. "Viper is the thief of the J-Team, not me."

"Hah! Easy for you to say. Your words may mean much to you, but they are nothing to me! When we see this Viper, then we will see who is the better thief!"

"_Better thief_? Urrgh!" replied El Toro as he resigned from the conversation, deciding instead to check how Kepler was doing with the mini-van.

Returning back to Xu Lin, Jackie began. "Don't worry, Xu Lin. We will find Paco and Viper. Until we do, we must hope they are alright. It won't be good to admit failure after all we've gone through."

"I...guess you speak true, Jackie."

"But we will need help to find our friends. Do you remember where the coated man's location was the last time you met him?"

"Yes; it was by a port called San Pedro. But he has thousands of guards along with him."

"That is good."

"Why?"

"Because it would take him a while to relocate those men. He may still be there in the base, waiting for Kenzo to report the news. And if the base is empty, I will ask Dr. Kepler to find Kenzo's whereabouts. So far, Kenzo is the only one besides you who we can learn more about the coated man.

"Until then, you should get some rest. You too, Jade."

"Oh, but Uncle Jackie, when can I help you whup some coated butt?" Jade bemoaned.

"You can whup all the butt you want in your dreams," Jackie assured with a wink.

"Urrr..! But all I ever dream about is kicking Hsi Wu where the sun doesn't shine!"

"Wha! Jade, watch your language!" Jackie waved an index finger and shook his head warily.

"How can nina Jade watch her language, senor Jackie?" said a confused El Toro Fuerte. "She can only speak it, can't she?"

"Wha...But you...There is....Arrgh!" Jackie rubbed his rubbery face in different angles. English was indefinitely America's strangest property.

"Well, it is evident some individuals are incapable of the logistics of human speech," sighed Kepler as he shut down the front hood of the car, "So let me simplify this. The vehicle is good to go. We can resort back to the tenement."

"That is very good," said Tohru. "There is a marketplace nearby where I should get more grape soda. My feet ache worse when I don't drink it."

"You hear that, everybody?! My boy needs more grape soda! What are we waiting for? Let us go!" encouraged Mama Tohru as she and Tohru went back inside the minivan.

Jade jumped into the vehicle, and El Toro followed with Xu Lin resting as he was carrying her with his massive arms.

Jackie walked right behind El Toro and poked the luchadore's shoulder, so the luchadore can hear his statement. "El Toro Fuerte, I will book a flight for the both of us to San Pedro. The sooner we leave, the better it will be for Paco and Viper."

"You know I will always be there, senor Jackie, especially now that the situation has become very personal," El Toro spoke silently as not to wake Xu Lin. He went into the back seat of the minivan, rocking the mini-van under his 400 pounds.

"Yes, it is very personal", Jackie said to himself as he went inside the mini-van. As the vehicle drove off, all the doors fell onto to the side of the road, scraping the concrete and shattering the silence of the night. But to those inside the vehicle, their minds were locked in thought over what had happened hours before, and those noises became stubbornly muted.

To Be Continued.......

A/N: Not much? I know. But it's going to take me more time to finish "SBTW", you know. Adios Amigos, and I'll tag you in later! 


	8. X

A/N: "What's a Babylonian Urn?" "Probably more than I do." Heeheeheehee hahahaha! Again, Tajeri Lynn can't stop when he hears these two lines. I'm glad Valmont and his cronies are back after two episodes, and you must be glad as well. I don't know when those guys will ever show up in my writings, but I'll try to somehow. Every JCA fan sure can't get enough of those guys. But right now, I grab the microphone and belt out those old words.

            Tajeri Lynn the Extremo Luchadore presents what I will dub Act 2 of "The Life Before the Party". Act 2, you say? Why yes, this is the midpoint of the fic! How long is this story anyways? Hopefully not as long as "Souls Between the Walls", which I expect to be my longest venture ever. (Sorry, lemon fans, but Extremo Luchadore promises a worthy ending with an iron fist.) Also in the works will be the sequel that will interconnect "TLBTP" and "SBTW".

            Tajeri Lynn has also observed forces to be reckoned with. Lil' Spleef and Shadowcell continue to pose literary lionsaults onto much of the competition. To put them in one word, Extremo Luchadore declares, WOWIE. (Sorry for anyone whose presence I have not seen.)

            Let's now move on with the fic, and always remember; "Jackie Chan Adventures" comes live to you at the Toonami Dome thanks to Kids WB and Sony Television.

The Life Before the Party

Chapter X: Silence

Jade was resting the right side of her face on her right hand, her usual gesture for the excruciating boredom that was Jackie Chan's apartment. Then again, it _was_ Jackie Chan's apartment. Situated on the other side was Dr. Kepler, tapping furiously on the X-3 Laptop. Jackie and El Toro Fuerte already took a plane leading to the San Pedro Port, perhaps at the middle of the night, since Jade could not have been alert at the time to track them down. Boy, did Uncle Jackie get desperate when it came to her safety. Meanwhile, Tohru, his mother and Xu Lin were at the breakfast table, as T-Man reached into the fridge to pull out the grape soda pops that had been purchased the night before. Xu Lin eyed the fridge and frowned; nothing in it resembled her everyday diet in China.

Jade meanwhile was scribbling a half-used pencil listlessly on a notepad to finish her 500-word essay, which was due tomorrow.

Jade leaned on her wooden chair, and looked up at the ceiling, where a spider was weaving a nice little web, a spectacle far better than white spaces with red lines. "Urr..! Why do all the fun things have to happen before the work?"

"Jade", spoke Tohru. "Breakfast is being served. Why are you doing your homework in so early a time?"

"Simple," Jade replied as she jumped off the seat and rubbed her back. "This is the last homework to complete, and unless I finish it, there is no way I'm going to celebrate this J-Team anniversary the big way."

"Big way", questioned the confused Tohru. Jade was always a puzzle.

"Saving Paco, Viper, and ol' Horsie, duh!"

"Well, there is not much we could do right now. It is best to wait here until Kepler can get a reading on Chan and El Toro."

"I don't mean to be impolite," spoke up the humble little Xu Lin, "but how must we eat this breakfast?"

Jade and El Toro saw the table set before them. Lying there were pancakes, a stick of butter, fresh strawberries, syrup, and orange juice.

Jade smiled and held up two of the silverware beside her plate.

"This here is called the fork. Don't ask me why, it just is. Put it through the food, like this-" Jade did the said manner on her pancake, "then take this knife and cut a small piece. Now take the fork and put the slice in your mouth." Jade quietly swallowed. "Though I forgot to mention pancakes taste a lot better when you put syrup on them first."

"I appreciate the approach", said Dr. Kepler as he spilled maple syrup on his pancake, took a fork, stabbed it through the meal, and gobbled it up in one bite, all without making eye contact with anyone.

Jade, Xu Lin, Tohru and Mama Tohru looked at one another, as Kepler continued switching disks into the laptop.

"Not quite knowledgeable about American eating habits, are you, Kepler?" asked Jade.

"Indefinitely. Since my gestation period began, I have preferred clasping victuals on my upward extremity. Provides me extended time to ponder on my projects."

"In a more simpler statement, you would rather hold the food and eat it?" said Tohru as he was opening grape soda, his fifth bottle for the day.

"Affirmative. The paramount victuals tend to be those wraps you put in microwave units. Burritos, I surmise?"

"No, you rock-star scientist!" yelled Mama Tohru. "It is called sushi! You wrap fish and rice in seaweed and then eat it! How dare you discredit my family line!"

"Uh, mommy", corrected Tohru as he put a giant hand on her shoulder. "Sushi isn't put into microwaves."

"Huh? Oh," Mama Tohru hushed. "I guess it is burritos…..But next time you make a mistake, Doctor, Mama Tohru will make you regret it!"

"Oh, burritos!" Xu Lin beamed ecstatically, clasping her hands together. "Burritos taste very good. I remember Paco showed me how to make them, so easy and quick. Oh, to have Paco around to make more of those. Do you have burritos in America?"

"Believe me, Xu Lin, America is like the home of a thousand tastes", replied Jade, as she took in another slice of pancake, this time with syrup. "There's soda, there's burgers and fries. Why, I'm sure Tohru can tell you a lot. He's probably experienced all the culinary tastes in the world. Right, Big T?"

"Um, Jade, all I've ever eaten was food from Japan and Mexico, but…"

"Whatever. The point is you'll find a lot in here."

"I'm sure I will", smiled Xu Lin. "Though I still can't get Paco and Viper off my head. I am so worried."

"Add 'befuddled' to that," replied Kepler as he looked down at the laptop. "Satellite feed is not being appropriated yet. No display. But I did receive a message from Jackie Chan. He and El Toro have deduced Kenzo's boat to be on port level 17. There lies a cargo holder which the Yokanawa misanthropes once utilized for their transgressions, crimes, if you will."

"Did you give them anything, Kepler?" said Jade. "Any super weapon or cloaking device to help them?"

"Only the device installed in Kenzo's means of transportation. I tweaked the circuits so Jackie and El Toro will remain invisible for 1440 minutes. One hour."

"One hour?!" exclaimed Jade.

"Do not fret, Jade", said Tohru after finishing his soda pop, and putting it right next to four other empty bottles. "One hour must be more than enough to find our friends. Right now, the magic talisman should only be an option. It would seem the culprits are planning to leave the country. Perhaps the talisman was meant for something outside of America. Whatever the case, it will take them longer to use the talisman than to waste Paco and Viper."

Jade looked at the laptop, with its largely fuzzy stream of live footage, static lines dancing in annoying ineptitude.

"I hope you're right, Tohru. Come on, Jackie. Come on, El Toro."

******************************************************************************

Kenzo whistled a nervous tune as he paced onto the foul-smelling deck when he noticed a human arm in front of his Italian shoes. He then noticed it was a man hired to guard the ship, and whoever struck him rendered him unable to activate the silent alarm on his pocket. Kenzo cursed softly and raised his KBR launcher, his eyes planted on the infra-red scope. As if losing Xu Lin to Chan wasn't disruptive enough, now Chan seemed to have found where he was.

From behind the crates, Kenzo heard the grunts of other guards. He leapt stealthily onto the crates and saw the guards flying off the floor and onto the murky sea. Kenzo readjusted the launcher and ferociously fired a KBR. It whistled through the atmosphere and split into 10 smaller units. Each unit of the KBR circled around the suspected location of Chan and El Toro Fuerte, burying the section of the pier into collapsing, catastrophic storms of fire.

Knowing for certain that he had missed his mark, Kenzo yelled out a cold taunt. "You won't last this time, Chan! If I can't see you-" he straightened his spectacles and raised the launcher, "Then the KBRs will."

All of a sudden, the misty area around him became ghostly quiet. Then the thud of metal ringed his ears. Kenzo moved his weapon towards the source of the sound, only to recognize it as the steel door leading to the interior of the ship. He couldn't risk blowing the ship into scrap, not to forget the mission along with it.

"Shimatta!" he bellowed the Japanese equivalent of "Damn" as he rushed inside the cargo holder. As he ran, he put his ring right next to him, and pressed a button.

"Jackie Chan came….as you expected."

"Then destroy him, as I expected."

"He's made his way into the vessel!"

Click!

The abrupt cut-off of communications was enough to make Kenzo speed faster. Hopefully, this wasn't how it was going to be at college.

******************************************************************************

Jackie and El Toro stormed through as their combined weight of almost 600 pounds sent every unwary sentry flat as pancakes. Those guards who avoided their trail could not make of their position, and risked firing at one another to find the perpetrators. Fortunately, Jackie and El Toro were kind enough to slam their heads right onto one another, and cease their friendly fire.

The duo momentarily paused in front of a dimly lit corridor. Jackie pressed his ear onto the cold, thick steel door at the end of the room, and heard words like "Jackie" and "El Toro".

"They're in here, El Toro. Quickly," said Jackie.

El Toro made a nod visible only to Jackie, and executed every rippling muscle on his arms to wrench the rotating handle that locked in their friends. When the handle was torn off its bounds, El Toro pulled the door.

The sight of Paco and Viper arguing as they were wrapped together on a crude rope was a welcoming sight for Jackie and El Toro Fuerte. Jackie temporarily switched off the cloaking device to reveal to the captives their rescuers.

"Jackie", spoke Viper.

"El Toro", spoke Paco.

The two pointed at each other. "See", they chided in unison, "I told you he would come to save us!"

Jackie and El Toro frowned and both shrugged their shoulders, before rushing to remove their friends off the rope.

"Can you walk?" Jackie asked as he lowered the pulley, with El Toro catching Viper and Paco in his record-size grasps.

"Not as well. You try moving your feet after a week hanging up like this," bemoaned Viper. "Ah!" The ex-thief almost tripped following just a few paces across the floor. Jackie valiantly skid his feet, sliding across the floor, swooped her up, and made a huge, smile of triumph.

"I appreciate the heroics, Chan, but we need to find the Horse Talisman first."

"Right." Jackie whispered as he reactivated the cloaking device, enveloping every J-Team member present in an artificial bubble that was clearer than the fog outside. "Stay within. Most of them won't be able to see us."

Viper stared at Jackie teasingly. "Guess I'm not the only one trying to avoid the public eye."

"That's because the public isn't welcome to us," replied Jackie warily. "Let's rush out of this safe and into safety."

The fast four motioned out of the corridor, forming soft, temporary footprints on the wet, slippery floor of steel.

"We were so afraid, nino Paco," spoke up El Toro Fuerte. "Why did these gringos capture you?"

"It's a very long story," Paco said. "But to make it short, the Viper lady was after a coated man."

El Toro gasped. "Coated man, like Xu Lin said?"

Now it was Paco's turn to widen his chocolate-brown eyes. "You have Xu Lin?! Is she okay?"

"She is," whispered Jackie, as he removed his 3-inch Section 13 cell-phone. "You'll be able to talk to her once we leave this ship. But we need to know where the Horse Talisman is."

"The Horse Talisman, I'm afraid, will not be in your grasps," an aged, hoarse voice bellowed from behind.

Jackie turned and saw a spark, followed by a cracking clamor. For the moment, the wind felt like it was converging on a straight line. With that, the cloaking device erupted into a shower of metal and electrical wires. Jackie yelped as he moved his face away from the burning bits. He collapsed on his right side, and turned up to look at his attacker.

The smoke trailing from the gun was concealing the man's face, but he haughtily motioned himself into the light as if expecting how Jackie would react to him. His face was long, and narrow. Tufts of white hair formed a crown around the bald top of his head, as well as his mangy eye-brows and a beard that took decades to be at its current extension.

Jackie's heart raced in a jolt of disbelief. "You're Dr. Necrosis!"

"I'm glad you still know of me, Jackie Chan, much as I am glad to know who you really are."

"Huh?"

"Back when you foiled my Necropolis, I had thought of you as Agent Tag, my once-most formidable adversary. Do you not recall?"

"Once? Wasn't he always?"

"No, 'was' is the better term. As luck would have it, Taggart McStone was trapped in an elevator in the Bellagio Hotel. It took me 10 hours to set up the explosion, but at least the elevator still failed to work."

"Nice story," smiled Jackie. The archaeologist, having held the cell phone behind him, pressed the Speed Dial and Mute 1 instantaneously, before dropping the item beneath his khakis. "I give it two thumbs up. Thank you. Now we will go." He began sliding sideways to the exit.

"You will NOT fall back on me, Jackie Chan!" growled Dr. Necrosis in unkempt ferocity, as he held up his revolver, in a disturbingly shaky manner. "There are still 5 more bullets inside, and there are only 4 of you. My aim may not be perfect, but a murder will be guaranteed."

"Oh, yes, it will be guaranteed," came the voice of Kenzo Yokanawa as he raised his fist, with the miniature gun strapped around the rough side of his palm.

Jackie sighed in reluctant resignation and reserved his momentum, in hopes that he might strike both men with one swift move. "You love to talk, Dr. Necrosis. Were you the coated man who took Paco and Viper?"

"Coated ma- Oh, no, Jackie Chan. That was my superior, and even then Kenzo had to do the dirty aspects of the duty."

"Finally, you gave me a compliment," spoke Kenzo sarcastically.

"Silence!" said Necrosis as he stared back at Chan. "I didn't know you had a team who fought crime. I must say this is far tougher than Agent Tag. Better yet, you're better than Agent Tag."

"Then, uh, perhaps we should fight another day? You know, or else I'll be good as dead."

"The offer is intriguing, but you are in the way of the plan, and so long as you breathe, I won't get what I want."

"So what's the plan? Trying to rob the LACMA?" accused Viper.

"What are you talking about?" asked Chan.

"Necrosis and Kenzo's gang were pilfering museums in the most profitable cities of China. So Paco and I found the gang and stopped the operation cold. Unfortunately-"

"Unfortunately, you could not catch up to our plans for long," added in Necrosis. "And no, we simply went to America just for the Horse Talisman. There is no need for anything else, not anymore."

"El Toro is confused, gringo. The talisman was stolen days ago," said El Toro Fuerte in suspicion. "If you went just to receive the Talisman, why didn't you leave without troubling us?"

"Let me reply that I wasn't ready to leave." Necrosis made a quick turn to Kenzo. "Keep Jackie Chan and the others at bay, since you have the better gun. Forget the wendigo girl. She has only delayed us."

As Necrosis conversed with Kenzo, Jackie felt a solid object on the floor that didn't seem to be even there. It must've been the last operational part of the cloaking device! Jackie slowly wiggled his pants as if he had a miniature itch, until the cell phone fell off the left leg and landed right in the radius of the invisible piece, making it unseen as well. He then slid the little pack further onto an air grate, and put his left leg back on the flat floor.

"Do you suppose Chan and his friends have any other devices on them?" Necrosis then asked Kenzo.

Kenzo searched any suspicious areas on the four's clothings. He searched Viper and Viper actually gave him a sock on the head. Necrosis raised his revolver.

As Kenzo limped back to the doctor, Viper spoke, "_That_ was for the last search."

"Forget it, Necrosis. They've got nothing on them. The cloaking device was it," said Kenzo  as he kicked the shrapnel of the aforementioned mess.

"Then we should be on our way. Ah, just in time," said Necrosis as he saw the guards receiving their bearings, and raising their half-used rifles. "Lock up Chan and his friends in the vault. Our Higher Order will also want a few final words from the archaeologist."

As the four were glumly shoved and hoisted by the guards, Chan could do the only thing undetectable to the captors; think.

I hope the X-3 knows where we'll be going, Kepler. And I hope somewhere along the way you'll find the phone very useful.

Near the entranceway, the cell phone still laid invisible, but continued to record any words that can come within its receiver.

To Be Continued……………


	9. XI

A/N: Reach for the skies as Tajeri Lynn the Extremo Luchadore enters the Imaginary Dome for installment 11 of "The Life Before the Party". There will most likely be only 4 more installments before it is finally over, maybe less. The sequel will cover additional characters not being covered by this mini-series, but a few of "TLBTP's" cast will return. It will also not be restricted to America alone.

"Jackie Chan Adventures" comes to you live at the Toonami Dome from Kids WB and is produced by Sony Television Entertainment. Even at 50+, Chan is still the man.

And now I will address a question asked by a fellow reviewer. The lionsault is a classic luchadore aerial move. When your opponent is down in the middle of the ring, you run toward the ropes, jump so your feet reach the second rope and acrobat backward so your body crashes down on your foe for the 1-2-3. It is named after the WWF wrestler who popularized the move, Chris Jericho, back then known as "The Lion Tamer", who worked in one of the most popular sites for Mexican wrestling, and my beloved home country, Japan.

And you thought all that Japan and Mexico had in common were wrapped foods.

Chapter XI: Vengeance

"Hey Kepler, we're back," said Jade as she, Tohru, Mama Tohru and Xu Lin reentered Jackie Chan's cramped apartment with bags of groceries. "Finally found those wrap-up burritos."

Kepler was placing the peripherals of his laptop inside the duffel bag, and was doing so with sweat pouring out of his capped head and hands thrusting every item in a lightning pace.

"Um, Kepler, you okay?"

"Perfectly, but not our acquaintances."

"You're not serious…"

"The X-3 Com Module synthesized correspondences from Chan's cell phone. The phone's still on, but it's being maintained at Mute 1."

"What is Mute 1?" asked Tohru as he began to gather all the grocery bags in his arms.

"It's a one-way signal devised in the harbingers of Section 13. To make the explanation turgid, information comes to me, but I can't send any information back."

"I do not get it," scrutinized Mama Tohru. "Jackie is a very wise boy. Why would he do that? That junk seller finally made him lose his mind?"

"No. Jackie has a rational explanation. There's a 75% probability that he applied the mute marker without us revealing his locale by making resounding…Uh oh."

"Now what? As if long checkout lines weren't so headachy!" Mama Tohru said in her scratch-the-air tone.

"The cell phone's current location is shifting 3500 feet every 60 seconds." Everyone stared at him incredulously. "The cargo freighter's accelerating at 40 miles an hour, and multiplying by the minute. It's…propelling!"

"Uncle Jackie's been kidnapped, and El Toro Fuerte too!" Jade clamored, her palms on both sides of her face.

"Please calm down, Jade," said Xu Lin, lowering her friend's arms. "As powerful as El Toro is, I know Jackie has the power to save the day."

"Affirmative, Xu Lin," added Kepler as he looked down at the laptop, showing a digital graph of the ship. "But the freighter is moving at expeditious speed. No ship of such magnitude could actually motion like that of an air-liner! Within 2400 hours, midnight to you, the freighter will have reached the vicinity of the South Pacific islands, maybe farther!"

"So? As long as Uncle Jackie's kept the cell phone, we'll know where he'll be."

"Do not count on that, Jade," said Tohru. "The cell phone still runs on Double A batteries, much as I run on grape soda." Having said that, Tohru gleefully dug into the bags for a bottle, before reverting to his humble self. "However, if it is permanently kept on, it will drain the batteries in one and a half hours. That is what I read in the Section 13 manual. Even with the satellite, we won't be able to trace the signal for much longer."

"You know what this means, Kepler?" Jade turned to the doctor with a mischievous smile.

"I am not an individual capable of telekinesis," Kepler registered nervously, "but I can fathom what lingers within your callow intellect."

Tohru's eyes widened in disapproval. "I dislike being the bringer of pessimism, Jade, but we still don't know where the ship is going. Even then, we'll have to reserve and wait to get on a plane; that could take us a day. And Section 13's transportations have been moved to Sacramento."

"What about…the Gear 13?" queried Xu Lin shyly.

"Huh?" said Jade, Tohru and his mother. Kepler only looked at the girl with bulged eyes.

"Um, Xu Lin, you didn't happen to read too many comic books in China, did you?" asked Jade in concern, as if her friend couldn't distinguish fantasy and reality.

"No, her allegation is legitimate," said Kepler urgently. "But…how could you shuffle upon this guarded puzzle?"

"It was simple," Xu Lin shrugged her shoulders. "When I entered Section 13, I noticed on the floor a symbol of a gear with the number 13. There was also an odd slit that was next to the symbol, and I peered into something really big."

Kepler sighed. "So much for the strategically-situated Chinese rug. Hopefully, that wasn't moved to Sacramento."

"Why would you say that? How can this Gear 13 help us?" asked Mama Tohru.

"Welllll.." Kepler began slowly as he tried to recollect his aforementioned creation, "it was built for the purpose of neutralizing the most profound of Californian emergencies. The government sanctioned 13 of these Gears and allocated them in all elite branches. At tops, a Gear can send anyone with speeds of 200 m.p.h. Captain Black had the 13th Gear reserved underground so that its usage would not be immediately accessible. Accessing the 10-level titanium steel layers is only immediately possible via a key, and that's where I will come in. Afterwards, however, I'll have to report to my superiors about my actions. Do you speculate the situation's a demanding emergency?"

"Yes, if you call it that way," added Jade.

"I don't know. Does Kenzo or Dr. Necrosis count as _real_ emergencies?"

"Necrosis?! The evil doctor who tried to blow up the world with a Druid Stone?! He kidnapped Jackie and El Toro?! This is _definitely_ a global emergency."

"Oh, I forgot he tried to disintegrate the globe. Okay, I'll access the local Gear," Kepler resolved as he put in the laptop into the duffel bag and went out of the apartment. Then, his ears caught the piercing noise of a low, vibrating scream, one that didn't sound human. The doctor turned up to the sky and went pale white.

"Jade, are-there-any-additional-individuals-residing-in-the-tenement?"

"Everyone finished breakfast. It's just us."

"Then evade!" Kepler negligently threw the laptop through the open door of the minivan, ran back and grabbed handlebars behind Tohru's wheelchair, pulling the confused big man out of the tenement. "Evade, evade!"

Jade noticed ten sparks up in the stratosphere. "KBRs!" she hastily whispered to herself. She took Xu Lin and Mama Tohru's shoulders as strongly as her lithe arms could and drove them out of the door into the minivan, which Kepler had aggressively boosted once behind the wheel.

Only seconds later, the soaring incendiaries ripped through the apartment, sending the building into a pile of gray dust and cracking glass. The Section 13 minivan by then was on its way to the 13th Gear. Everyone in the vehicle slid down on their seats, except Kepler, who had to return to grasping the wheel after his relaxation almost sent them face first into a tow truck.

"You are right, rock-star scientist", chided Mama Tohru, waving a pointed finger to stab on Kepler's pride. "You don't deserve a driver's license!"

"I do not understand this," said Xu Lin. "How could Kenzo attack us from the oceans?"

"The ship!" said Jade in realization. "It must have some kind of long-range cannon or something."

"To put it succinctly," Tohru said, "our lives are becoming comic books."

"This is too…cool!" beamed Jade, with a clenched fist up in the air.

"JADE!" everyone yelled in great abomination, even Kepler, who lost his focus again and steered ferociously to miss an incoming bus. The steering caused everyone to lean to the left and collapse their heads on one another.

"Oh! Kepler, please calm down," Tohru encouraged patiently, rubbing his enormous temple. "By now, they won't know where we are, or where we will be going."

"Utter what you will", Kepler replied, eyes still glaring at the front window, "but it's better that we proceed into the core of the 13th Gear promptly."

"We? WE?!" came out Mama Tohru in an outrageous outburst. "What do you mean 'We'?! I do not need to be inside the 13th Gear. I'd rather be in the roach motel than go wherever the fireworks are flying!"

"Mama Tohru is right, doctor," said Xu Lin worriedly. "It seems everytime people try to save a part of the world, the rest of it goes down in fire." She bowed her head down in solemn thought. "Besides, we are not warriors, like Jackie or El Toro are."

"Oh yes, we are, Xu Lin. We've dished out whatever they've thrown at us and we keep coming back," butted in Jade with her brand of spunk. "But it doesn't mean we have to destroy the rest of the world. We're going to use the 13th Gear for a quick search and rescue of our friends and Uncle Jackie. Right, Kepler?"

"Affirmative. Though I may inquire that in case the KBRs come within our radar, I'll have to dispatch the threats. Still, the armament of the Gear should sustain mass quantities of damage."

"Well," added in Xu Lin, her solemn lips moving upward into a smile, "I'll do my best to be part of the team."

"That's great Xu Lin," congratulated Jade.

"Hmmph! Rock star scientist, send me to 'Billy Goat's' Rare Finds now. At least he is harmless as pudding," Mama Tohru spoke, her arms crossed.

"Too late," Kepler said as he stopped the car next to the familiar phone booth. "I've got to progress to the Gear. Government agents should be on patrol, so they will consign you to a sheltered destination." He carried the black duffel bag and hoisted it over his shoulder. "To the additional individuals, do accompany me."

"I am not that old a woman! I need no government people," Mama Tohru sighed in resignation as she followed along Kepler, Jade, Tohru and Xu Lin into the phone booth.

Tohru was a massive hassle in the booth, especially when residing in a wheelchair. Everyone felt compacted under the giant sumo's 600 pounds, and winced at the unprecedented strain on their backs. It took a minute for Jade to shut the folded door into place.

Kepler groaned and pulled a phone card out of the duffel bag and slid it inside the proper slit.

The booth zoomed even further down below the designation of basement level.

When the elevator opened, everyone but Tohru spilled over the booth. "Hmm…I didn't know we had safety belts on the side," Tohru mused as he pulled some off the convenient slits.

"In case you didn't surmise it," Kepler rearranged his brown hair, "your magnitude left little expanse for us to employ them."

"I am sorry."

"No time for that, T-Man," Jade spoke alertly. "We've got to save our friends, and the world!"

The room there were in was jet black. Kepler flicked a switch and a single fluorescent radiated across the room, giving way to a marvelous 70-foot cube, with ladders and folded chairs left lying next to the cube. Sealing the 13th Cube was long, hard work, so it took resting on chairs and standing on ladders to get this task done.

"Just give me some time," Kepler urged, searching through the pockets of his ash-smeared lab coat. "I can not recall the proper locality of the key card."

A click was heard, and Kepler's heart raced as the barrel of a gun emerged from the shadows, directing at his burly face, and the minion holding the gun spoke.

"You don't have to find the key card….I'll do it for you."

To Be Continued….

A/N: Extremo Luchadore knows he is aggravating everyone with suspense. This is a rarity, however, for me to update two stories in the same week, so I suppose the fans are getting their money's worth.

Then again, Lil' Spleef is doing the same with her story. I suppose once she is done, everyone will be sighing in relief, only to realize my other story will continue to keep them hanging as well! Hee, hee, hee.

Shadowcell and NocturneD follow us as well when it comes to the infamous acronym "TBC".

That's okay, because the focus we put on our stories doesn't mean there's excessive crowding in the JCA section. Have you amigos looked at Digimon? There are so many stories that my brother, CrazedChakra, doesn't even have a single review! On the other hand, Tajeri Lynn feels grateful that he joined Fanfiction.Net while the JCA section was still in its youth. Who knows? I may be staying there even after the series is done. It helps me figure out what series I plan to make.

Adios, amigos!


	10. XII

A/N: Tajeri Lynn will now send you to chapter 12 of the aerial war entitled "The Life Before The Party". "Jackie Chan Adventures" is presented to all amigos thanks to Kids WB and Sony Television.

Extremo Luchadore has made his mind; at the ends of both this story and "SBTW", I will announce the three possible projects that will begin following the completions.

Tajeri Lynn has also made another announcement, one that won't please everyone; the conclusions to both my current fables will take longer to arrive than anything I've ever written. Those conclusions shall be due somewhere in two/three weeks.

Until then, raise yourself into the world of Extremo Luchadore's JCA!

The Life Before the Party

Chapter 12: Confidence

"What are your intentions?" gasped Kepler at the sight of a gunman with a red cloth encircling his face, his rail rifle firm at the doctor. He turned around and saw Jade, Mama Tohru, and Tohru cornered by five other men bearing similar weaponry.

"The 13th Gear", the soldier spoke threateningly. "Your superiors couldn't grant us what we want. Don't end up like them. We know you have the key."

He thrust a dusty glove into Kepler's lab coat as the doctor helplessly raised his arms in surrender. Kepler turned back at his acquaintances, who could only afford to do the same gestures he exhibited.

But hold on a nano-second.

Where was Xu Lin?

The soldier grunted at every empty pocket Kepler possessed. Upon searching even the duffel bag, the soldier pulled Kepler's collar, causing the rocket scientist to yelp like a toddler, and demanded to him, "Where'd you hide the key? Tell us or we add you a hole!"

A rectangular shadow with spaces of light beaming in it loomed over the soldier's head. He turned and was met with a collapsing ladder that made him see white…then black.

The five remaining soldiers pointed their guns up towards the source of the ladder. It was Xu Lin, standing above the cube encasing the 13th Gear.

"Aim up at her, but know that she must have the key!" one soldier barked.

Shoom!

The soldiers turned excitedly towards the sudden sound of a blast, and saw smoke trailing from around Kepler, who was containing his fallen captor's weapon.

The terrifying coalition growled as one and pulled their triggers, and elicited nothing but fumes even more vast and gray than what Kepler's gun had reaped.

"Tsk, tsk," Kepler shook his head almost pitifully. "Coalescing together in a single line is a most compromising tactic, wouldn't you declare?"

"Not quite," replied a desperate soldier as he fiercely pitched away his useless arm. As it dropped before Kepler, a Ginsu knife seemingly emerged behind it, soaring up to Kepler's drooped face.

The doctor yelled and parried the skewing projectile with the rail gun, but sparks burst off the weapon and forced Kepler to ditch the weapon away, and crumple onto the floor as the sparks stung his eyes.

"Forget the captives, get the girl!" declared the desperate new leader. At that command, the band strode up onto the 20-foot ladders situated by the gargantuan cube. Together. Again.

"Pssh! When will they learn?" Jade spoke, as she jogged hurriedly and leapt onto Kepler as a pummel horse, flew in mid-air and shot both her legs onto midsection of the front-most ladder. With that, the ladders collapsed like a stack of dominoes. The gangsters were depraved of equilibrium as they fell head-first onto the fold-up chairs encircling the ladders, brunching the seats of the chairs in awkward angles.

Jade grabbed Kepler and looked up at his face, which he still rubbed patiently. "I'm perfectly prevalent", the doctor replied.

"Good. Stay with Tohru. Me and T-Mom will handle this."

Before Kepler had chance to object, a soldier thrust a folded chair onto the doctor, who raised his chin to barely evade the taste of cold steel. Jade leapt, spun her legs, and sent her right leg darting dead set through the chair, pressing it through the attacker's facade and banishing him into a dazzling world of dreams.

Kepler complied to Jade's request and grabbed Tohru's wheelchair and motioned himself and the incarcerated sumo into safer grounds.

Mama Tohru cartwheeled next to Jade, standing one leg up and raising both hands awaiting the villainous response. So was this her typical shotokan karate stance.

The five men groaned and held up knives, chairs, and ladders.

Mama Tohru observed her attackers' uncertainties, and cocked an eye to Jade. "You ready to whup some butt, little girl?"

"I'm not the only little girl," Jade couldn't help but smile. Mama Tohru eyed her oddly.

Momentarily, two men ascended into the duo with two more chairs in hand. Jade and Mama Tohru slid underneath the assailants who, upon aiming at the elder woman's head, vigorously slammed each other's implements and vibrated each other's hands violently. They comically leapt up and down while massaging their hands, only to have their boots swept off by Jade's swift legwork. Now they were groaning and holding their backs.

"Heh. Guess now you need a place to sit. Whoa!" Jade was grabbed from behind by the largest soldier, armed with 27-inch pythons, and easily kept Jackie's niece off the ground. She strained and flailed her cherry-red sneakers in irritance, but was left immobile.

Mama Tohru saw Jade in a problematic outlook, and was then grabbed by another man who had the brazen nerve to sloppily drag her beneath the rungs of one of the fallen ladders. The senior rubbed her oval brow and heard Jade's elongated screams become louder by the minute. Mr. 27-inch Pythons laughed in uproarious sadism as he lobbed the 11-year old onto the top leg of the ladder, sandwiching the rungs with Mama Tohru beneath it! Both were gasping and lying with little time to recover.

Xu Lin gasped at the sight of her injured friends. Noticing how focused Kenzo's men were in dispatching the two women, she took the initiative to leave the key card on the rough-hewn roof of the cube. She scurried to the far end of the wall, shifted towards the front, and then leapt at the rope suspending the only source of light in the underground base. Swinging along with the pendulum, Xu Lin dropped her petite self off the rope and wrapped her elbows onto Mr. 27-inch Pythons' cranium. The velocity of the descent was just enough for Paco's girlfriend to spin her grapple on the behemoth and forcefully pull his face down to a broken chair left on the floor! The behemoth grunted as he lost all consciousness and became nothing more than a heavy burden, his face dug in a hole on the chair.

"Just two more. I hope what Paco told me is enough," she whispered anxiously to herself as the only soldiers left now were the man with a hand for Ginsus and a lankier, taller soldier pointing a ladder as if it were a portable battering ram.

The ladder swinger was first to assail, swinging the ladder and rather unpredictably nailing the girl's stomach with the interconnecting rung. But Xu Lin held her bearings tightly and then somersaulted to step down on the ladder. The swinger growled as he momentarily lost his new fetish on the oversized tool, and maniacally struck severally kicks against the little Lin. Lin suddenly lost footing as her heel collided with a chair behind her, and as she looked up, Ginsu Man yelled in anticipation as he compulsively spun two knives to stab down on her. Xu Lin hoisted her foot to tow the nearby chair, and spring-boarded the chair square between his eyes. She nimbly rolled to her left, as Ginsu Man this time screamed in confusion and landed his face with the chair seemingly glued onto him.

The remaining cohort gasped as he saw Xu Lin, narrow-eyed and readily holding her chair in a laggard gyration. If matters weren't lame enough, he heard Mama Tohru and Jade standing up for a little more action.

"No, I'm too young to die!" he cried as he lost breath rushing up back to the elevator, tapping furiously at the button. He hoarsely yelled at the female trio, even though they weren't even pursuing him.

As the elevator door opened, Kepler was revealed to the last soldier and, as if his life was on the line, flung the most head-splitting chair shot he could possibly do to the now harmless assailant. The hit sent the man spiralling downward, bemoaning, "That's it…I'm going back to McDonald's…Ohhh….", and with that, the adrenaline of the J-Team came to a comforting halt.

Kepler, noticing how quiet the room had become, went behind Tohru, who was also inside the elevator for sanctuary, and took the giant back inside where Xu Lin, Jade, and Mama Tohru were.

"Whew!" the doctor observed and took a checkered handkerchief to wipe his greasy neck. "We ought to be required to tone down on the commotion. The adrenaline is crushing to my arteries!"

"Hah!" Mama Tohru replied haughtily. "They not so tough as their employer. Should've stayed in school. Didn't take Butt Whipping 101 yet, I bet."

Jade stretched her bruised back, and turned to her age mate with exultation. "Xu Lin, those were some amazing moves! How did Paco teach you these things?"

"TLC."

"'Tender Loving Care'?"

"No, 'Tables, Ladders and Chairs.' He's always showing me how these tag-team matches work. No tables this time, though. Just shows that Paco is best, and El Toro Fuerte just the same." Xu Lin smiled, skipping on one foot to celebrate her successful endeavor.

"We'll continue this debate some other time," Jade frowned at her proud friend.

"Mommy, are you okay?" Tohru mused as he rode the wheelchair next to her. "You look hurt."

"Bah, pretty as a picture, my boy," Mama Tohru said as she playfully pulled her son's cheeks. "Maybe this time I will go along with Jackie's little trip."

"Mommy, this isn't a trip!" Tohru reproached urgently as he stood up and stamped a foot in defiance. "I won't let you suffer much more."

"Tohru, why can you stand up now?" Mama Tohru asked in wonder. The other members nodded agreeably.

Tohru looked at his legs, and then held a knee up. "Ouch, ouch, I should have not have done that!" He retreated to the wheelchair, but then Jade pulled the instrument away, and Tohru paused in his upright position when he noticed there was nothing but ground.

"Cool, you're cured!" Jade said. "That means you can now help us save Jackie and the others!"

"I…I'm not so certain of that. I can't leave my precious grape soda. I won't leave it!" Tohru held the wheelchair and sobbed in decibels as tears flew out of his eyes. Everyone looked at each other with no answer in sight.

"Tohru, don't dwell in agitation," said Dr. Kepler as he knelt on the 13th Gear's locking cube, sliding the card into the proper slit, and effortlessly tapped the password. "The 13th Gear will harbor all your required provisions. Since you are now mobile without additional peripheries, I am assigning you to take direct command of the 13th Gear."

"Me?" Tohru pointed to himself with his retinas shrunk, leaving gaps of white in the eyes.

"Affirmative. It is demanding that someone of your strength secure its hefty levers and wield them to efficient use."

"But…why can't anyone else drive the 13th Gear?"

"Because no one else possesses your torque. I hadn't fully modified the android in years, and its outer technology is still quite primitive. On other fronts, the remaining individuals will be downloaded into its digital modifier, storing them in a neatly fastened hard drive, until the redemption of Chan and company is to commence."

"We…are going to be in a computer?" Jade pondered. "Yyyyeeeeessssssssssss! Life's a comic book. Life rules!"

Tohru looked up at the ceiling, hoping someone above would hear his words.

Sigh. "Why must this life happen before the party?"

To Be Continued……


	11. XIII

A/N: Let the villains hit the floor! Tajeri Lynn the Extremo Luchadore welcomes you back to the bizarre world of "The Life Before the Party", starring the members of the J-Team.

            If you read the previous chapter, then don't expect any additional news until further notice. But always remember; JCA still comes to you live at the Toonami Dome from Kids WB and Sony Entertainment Television.

            Now let's rev it up, amigos!

Chapter XIII: Cognizance A

Tohru slumped reluctantly in the cockpit of the 13th Gear.  Donning an oversized plastic helmet, and putting a weak grip on the massive levers, the 600-pound sumo couldn't believe he had to undergo this critical task while his friends were to be digital passengers. The 13th Gear, in fact, resembled a burly android with a squarish core and cylindrical extremities. As he practiced motioning the metallic arms, the arms moved very freely and effortlessly. Dr. Kepler originally intended the 13th Gear to have armaments and missles installed in the arms, but since there was no time, that left the arms largely hollow in its centers, but they kept firm due to the perfected titanium alloy mold.

Thanks to the doctor's instructions, Tohru finally connected a laptop into a plug for the first time in his life. That laptop, without a mite of a doubt, would monitor Jackie's signal via the X-3 Comm. He had raised the volume on the laptop to keep track of any clues that the still-operable cell phone could receive. Tohru listened to the whole track over his adjustment on the seat of the 13th Gear, and so far found nothing. He now had to rely on the recordings that were to come, if Jackie, El Toro, Viper and Paco were to be rescued from the grips of the global menace Necrosis.

Tohru, shivering from the vibrations of the android as it was warming up for release, simple-mindedly pressed a taped button marked with the word "Talk". Instantly, a small screen appeared with five, thin, motionless wires projected.

"I am ready," spoke Tohru as he bent his oval head before the screen.

"Pleasant," came the top wire, which began waving in synchronization with the phonetics. The voice was male and had to be Kepler. "Being the rational being that I am, I suggest you make your way to the Pacific before we lose complete chance of determining their proper location. My timepiece indicates, provided it was not discovered by the unscrupulous, that the X-3 phone will expire in 1800 seconds. 30 minutes."

"Do not fail us now, Tohru," came Mama Tohru's voice, which was visualized as the lowest wire. "I am here to comfort you whenever you need it. How about I sing you a song, maybe one from Kare Noke and the Yodelling Kabukis?"

"Eww!" came out Jade from the wire right above Mama Tohru's. "That song could bust an ear drum or too. I mean, wouldn't a little hip-hop give you a better time, Chilly T?"

"Tohru is MY son, and he is no Chilly Willy T!" yelled Mama Tohru, who spoke so loud at the "MY" that her wire bounced up and collided with Jade's wire, shaking it like a fork shakes gelatin.

"OW!" said Jade in reply, taking pause as if to recover, and then speaking again. "What was that for?"

"Little girl must not decide for Tohru. All youths should respect their elders. Oh, I forgot. You've got a billy goat for an uncle. What's that make you, a lamb?"

"I AM NO LAMB!" Jade expelled at the edge of her lungs. The wave rose and rapidly whacked Mama Tohru's wire, but since sound waves have vertical pitches, Jade's wave also struck the above wire with equal force.

"Uhn! Jade!" said Xu Lin's wire in sober annoyance. "Please quit that!"

"I am terribly sorry, Xu Lin," muttered Mama Tohru with some guilt. "I didn't want to hurt you… unlike Jade. Little lamb bleats loudly without knowing her shepherds."

"Urrr!" spoke Jade, anticipating anger in her voice. "Take THIS!"

Her wire once again hit both Mama Tohru and Xu Lin. Mama Tohru began cursing in deafening Japanese to counteract Jade's verbal arsenal. Soon, Xu Lin joined in and yelled desperately in Mandarin.  The restless cacophony caused the wires to bounce onto each other, building audible aftershocks that were severely jarring the top wire; Kepler's wire.

"Ouch!" Kepler spoke. "Impede everyone, impede, impede! Tohru", he addressed the bewildered Sumo urgently. "I bade the best of luck to you. Now turn off the speaker. Turn it off. Turn it OFF!" The last word hit Xu Lin's wire, and so she began the deliberate assault on him. "Ouch, ouch, ouch! What are you stalling for?! Ple-"

Click!

Tohru sighed, raised his eyes to the oceanic horizon ahead and fixed his face in red-blooded determination. "I must go now, but how must I be sure I'm in the right path?"

"Necrosis!"

"Huh?" Tohru reacted immediately, as he noticed the source came from the laptop.

******************************************************************************

"What is it now?" said Necrosis as he turned behind to see Kenzo walk up to him.

"The ship is boarding over near Sri Lanka, where the 'Higher Odor' awaits."

 "Excellent, although you should detract from that language of yours. That will not be appropriate once we reap for him the bounties he has craved most; the necessary technology to concentrate the Horse Talisman's power, and the chance to witness the fall of Jackie Chan."

"Will he?" Kenzo rose back his skepticism. "The technology only works in theory, and Chan's got more lives than nine cats, if you ask me."

"That's why I won't ask you," Necrosis retorted. "By the way, is Jackie being situated as I have demanded?"  
  


"Yup," smiled Kenzo. "It is the perfect trap for all of them. If they manage to escape, it won't be worth it."

Behind the gargantuan safe, Viper, Paco, and El Toro Fuerte were locked in hundreds of chains suspended above the ceiling.

"Okay", spoke Paco. "NOW we can play Tic, Tac, Toe!"

"You know, we could only do so much with our hands tucked beneath this mess," bemoaned Viper.

"I don't understand," said El Toro Fuerte as his masked face angled everywhere he could move. "Where is senor Jackie?"

"Below us," replied Viper.

"What did you say up there?" came Jackie's worried voice, which sprung from below. "Don't try to escape. Please. I don't want to be your landing cushion!"

To Be Continued….

A/N: That's it, huh? Well, Extremo Luchadore made this quick chapter because nobody but one read Chapter XII. Hope this got your attention. Adios, amigos!


	12. XIV

A/N: Tajeri Lynn jumps back onto the ring, and grabs the microphone to say that "The Life Before the Party" Chapter XIV is up. We are finally coming to the close, amigos, so keep yourself in your seats as the J-Team take to the limits to show evil what hard-hitting, high-flying adventure is all about.

This fic will be completed much sooner than the other. Since it is my first fic, I am compelled to finish it first. Ain't gonna get a share of that tomato soup in a while. Shame.

"Jackie Chan Adventures" comes live to you at the Toonami Dome from Kids WB and Sony Entertainment Television.

Tables, ladders, chairs, bodies and spirits may have been demolished in the quest to retrieve the Horse Talisman, but the path isn't at its ends just yet…

Chapter XIV: Cognizance B

Sweat beaded on Jackie Chan's face, dribbling down to the cold steel floor where every appendage of his was cinched down by cuffs. Necrosis and Kenzo were taking the swift cargo-holder down to Sri Lanka, a small South Asian country largely unknown to the global public. Jackie would pray that the X-3 Comm had intercepted on their conversation and sent it to Dr. Kepler, but with his hands unable to make contact palm with palm, could his prayer still make miracles?  


Jackie's face kept up to Viper, Paco, and El Toro Fuerte, the trio being suspended on the ceiling. Though while he was afraid of losing his friends in this twisted plot, the archaeologist did fear for his life more, if not because his friends were right above him, with a high risk of squashing him flat into a paper doll, should they release their iron bounds.

"You alright there, Jackie?" came Viper's voice.

"As long as you stay there, I'll be alright," replied Jackie shakily, hoping he had not implied any selfish remarks.

  
"We can not just stay here, amigos!" addressed Paco impatiently, though not indignantly, "We are the J-Team, are we not? Don't you know what the 'J' stands for?"

"Let me guess," said Viper. "Jack, as in 'jacked up'?"

"Viper!" came the voice of an annoyed and subsequently anxious Jackie.

"But Jackie," El Toro spoke up. "Senorita Viper is correct, much as I highly admire Paco. Tied by these steel snakes, we have nowhere to go. How can we not be sure that this is the end?"

"The end? How can you say that? You are El Toro Fuerte. You're not supposed to be afraid of anything!" Jackie bellowed, desperately raising the peak of his face so as to elucidate his voice.

"I may be as strong as an ox, Jackie, but like an ox, I am not unbeatable," replied El Toro, the eyes of his masked face shut in solemn solicitude.

"Same goes for a viper," added the ex-thief quietly.

"Everyone, please calm down. You don't have to lose yourself!" Paco stated in a disconcerting tone. "As I was about to say, the J stands for, uh….oh, I forgot. What else starts out with J?"

"Jammed, which is also true of our current situation," muttered Viper. "Or how about Jade? You love making twenty-questions out of her since you and her broke up."

"There you go, again! Acting all sad because we had a chance to escape and we lost it. Can't we realize we've got dreams to help us when we need it?"

"Like what kinds of dreams could help us now?" said Viper.

Jackie slapped his face with realization. "The party! How could I forget?"

"Party?" Viper queried.

"Si, senorita, the J-team annual celebration!" beamed Paco. "Maybe tomorrow, we will have saved the world for one year! I'm sure it will be a nice little jubilation. Wait a minute! I said jubilation, and that begins with J! We're the Jubilation Team!"

"I don't know. Does that word begin with a J?"

"Viper, of course it begins with a J!" chuckled Jackie in astonishment. Viper paused without reply. Jackie's chuckles decreased, and his face suddenly hardened. "What's wrong, Viper? You're not one for the party, are you?"

"It's not that, it's…what we're primarily living for. I mean, back when I was the great super thief (gosh that felt so good), I was making headlines all over for my wily schemes, and I had a huge faction always around to tug at me with pride. But being part of this J-Team, there's nothing like that. No headlines glorify me, no faction wants me. It's just too hard on me, having the ex in 'ex-thief', no matter how much you say that's the right thing."

"Viper", smiled Jackie. "there are people who still want you, and that is us. Every one of us has had rights and wrongs, and we've allowed you to know that. Friends aren't just there to talk about the good things, and I think you may know that more than any of us."

"How are you so sure?"

"You just said those things, about what troubled you. If you didn't see us as friends, then you would feel we wouldn't care for headlines or fractions, but you did."

"Factions, Jackie, not fractions," corrected Viper.

"You see, Viper? You really do understand us, much as we want to understand you. It's okay to feel bad when things are bad, and it's okay to feel good even then, but as long as we know each other, we can keep our dream alive. And that dream, for right now, is jubilation, the J of our J-Team."

"Very well said, Senor," sobbed the moved El Toro Fuerte, "But I am ruining my mask here!" He sobbed in hulking gulps, while Paco and Viper stared inquisitively at the luchadore's emotions.

"Hmm," pondered Jackie. "I didn't know I was good at sad stories."

"Don't worry, Jackie", added Viper in bemused observance. "El Toro's just getting his jubilation on, and your story's not sad, it's the other way around. As for me, I'm going to keep my jubilation for the party. Cross my heart."

"Yup!" proclaimed Paco, eagerly trying to free a hand to signal triumph. "We are the Jubilation Team. Nothing will stop us! So let's jubilate to make an escape plan!"

Jackie frowned. "Escape plan? For what?"

"Ahh!" Paco's eyes relinquished to a limp state. "Why did we speak so much about the vista when we should've talked about the house?"

The circular safe door clanged open and screeched eerily as Kenzo, Necrosis and ten gunmen emerged from the shadows into the safe.

"We are here, and the Higher Order awaits us", explained Necrosis as he waved a heavy revolver. He turned to the gathering of underlings. "Get the technology delivered to the underground caverns. As for them, bound them up. Should any escape, let them be. They will not last long in the jungle."

******************************************************************************

Jackie, El Toro Fuerte, Viper, and Paco concentrated their views on the exotic world that enveloped them, while soldiers encircled at them seemingly like dogs surrounding helpless sheep. The unnamed island near Sri Lanka couldn't disappoint any aesthetics in search of beauty. Rare ancient ferns sprouted everywhere they were allowed to pace. Seeming to loom above them, timbers stood up and dwarfed the inhabiting animals and plants that thrived on their primary reservoir for life-assuring oxygen. And then, there were the stratus clouds, many of which came close to touching the ground, giving the atmosphere blankets of thick, temperate fog. So that's why Jackie couldn't just evade from the men of the Higher Order; the climate was definitely not in favor of his martial arts expertise. Strength would not be practical without a sense of sight.

"Perfect sanctuary for a Higher Order, do you not think so, Chan?" Dr. Necrosis cocked his face to Jackie's quiet form. "No advanced state has kept surveillance on this island. And if you don't think the clouds will test your composure, the rain will. I do admit Island N/A isn't fully to my liking; too humid, I say. But no need to mind soon enough. I will have my wish fulfilled, and you will have a painless death. Either way, none of us will actually be staying here."

Necrosis halted the circle of people behind him as they stood on a dense surface, noticeably too hard to be mere mud or dirt. With that, the surface dove down into darkness. Jackie and his stalwart friends watched as the foliage once surrounding them began to converge and lock the rims of the hidden entryway altogether. They saw, too, that the foliage was being supported under steel plates and rods pushing onto one another.

The domain of the Higher Order was an unprecedented acrylic dome, housing monstrous legions of sooty black, listless machinery and sparking azure coils connecting the machinery together like a dazzling nest of technology. Sprouting amongst them were shadowy rotund surfaces for the onlookers to walk upon, since there too lied several pits that gaped further into nothingness over the centuries they had laid underground. High above, rows of fluorescent bulbs showered the domain with uneasy brightness. To think this was the domain of some dark power, and yet there was radiance to be had.

"You could observe how precise my cohorts are at arranging the necessary tools for the Horse Talisman," prodded Necrosis.

"Why all this?" asked Jackie in astonishment at the ridiculous excess before him.

"I'm glad you asked. Our Higher Order had already reaped access to the talisman, but alone, it only helped him temporarily. With these contraptions, I will raise the talisman's power multi-fold, and ensure his stability is complete, if not improved."

Kenzo squinted at a red flash on his strapped fist, turned away from the J-Team, and muttered. "Yes? What? But in his condition……….If he wants, but DON'T blame me for anything!" He dropped his hand and glared at Necrosis. "Guess what? The Higher 'Odor' wants a little mano a mano with Jackie Chan. He is to appear where he always has."

"Then we must take Jackie there. Perhaps his friends should also be granted the opportunity to meet their destroyer, right before they meet their maker. Such cruel irony…I love it."

Suddenly, swarms of the Higher Order's cloaked brigade rushed out of every door, momentarily leaving behind their labors on the technology, in expectation of their master's meaningful words. They lined up on man-made terraces delicately curving down to a minute hatch centering the 4 terraces. A dome of like material too encircled this hatch, but it was reasonable that this Higher Order most likely was approaching the ends of his days, and could be supersensitive to any extreme stimuli.

The guards pushed the massive butts of their rifles onto El Toro, Viper and Paco, pressuring them to sit in the foremost row of the nearest terrace. Jackie, however, felt his knuckles constrained back cruelly under tight, thin wires that could amputate the precious appendages should he attempt to free himself by exerting defiant strain. Kenzo then gave a swift cheap shot with a kick to the small of Jackie's back, sending the archaeologist pathetically teetering towards the dome he aversely knelt to. He was about to stand straight when he heard Necrosis following him, uneasily shaking the revolver, the five shells all ready to obliterate his life. Jackie's ears also caught the resonance of knees dropped to the floor in unison, the knees most certainly belonging to the Order's disciples. Jackie dropped both knees in compliance, and the shaking of Necrosis' revolver had paused.

"All before you, bow to the Higher Order of this despicable world!" roared Necrosis in the loudest tone the middle-aged doctor could exude.

With that, the minute hatch unveiled a table with a crumpled sphere lying motionlessly on the smooth plane.

"That is not the coated man!" complained Paco, before a guard raised his rifle to pacify him.

"Oh my gosh, that IS HIM," spoke Viper with her eyes wide like never in her years.

Jackie gazed curiously at the sphere, until it shivered, and began opening ever crease, every fold that compacted it.

"What is this?" Jackie pondered, in disgust that this thing could've been the Higher Order.

And as it was unfolding, the sphere seemed to articulate these muddled words. "This….Is…The end….Chan…Jackie….Chan!"

To Be Continued… 


	13. XV

A/N: Alright, muchachos, get set for the finale to the hot and furious "The Life Before the Party". Read on as the J-Team square off in what is bound to be the biggest battle in JCA fanfic history! (Or better yet, in the Extremo Luchadore's writing history.)

JCA is owned by Kids WB and Sony. Now let's leap onto the main event, as only literary luchadores can!

The Life Before the Party

Finale-Chapter XV: Reliance 

"Kasahara?! O-Origami?!" Jackie stopped short of his breath, scrambling his body backward with his hands. Jackie was put back to his senses when Necrosis' revolver poked sternly into his messy raven hair. The archaeologist can only watch in terrible awe as the sphere within the minute dome folded into a crumbly paper man, standing 6 feet and riddled with more folds and ruffles than any piece of paper Jackie had ever disposed into a wastebasket.

The paper man attempted to put one pointy foot onto the floor, but the foot wrinkled and almost sank the entire figure down, had he not thrown himself back to his smooth table. His face resembled a rectangular raisin, pruned and seemingly aged. But the upper folds creased down to the center, unveiling cold, furious eyebrows atop of unseen eyes.

"Yes, Mr. Chan…", Origami wavered in his speaking. "That is correct….I am the Higher Order…and I need the Horse Talisman…more than ever."

"What happened to you? You were not like this when you were in prison," queried Jackie, generously sympathetic with his captor's bizarre condition.

"It was because of the prison that I ended up like this," growled Kasahara, as he straightened his flat form back up every few seconds. "You see, Chan Jackie Chan…I once thought the magical scroll that bestowed me this power had not one limit. But like any paper…it could not last long. Over the years, it had begun to depend on my body for stability…even before we had first met. I am becoming one with the scroll, and without the talisman…the scroll will consume me…and time will eventually consume it as well."

"I see….", spoke Jackie with a curious fist supporting the chin. "But how did you know about the talisman? Why did you send Necrosis and Kenzo to harm us all?"

"Forgive me for this long narrative, Chan….I broke out of prison with the trusted aid of Necrosis, Kenzo, and the Dark Hand….the former two of which I had made contacts with….to help steal from rare art galleries around the world."

"So that's why those gringos robbed the museums!" deduced Paco from afar.

"Yes," added Viper with a glare of contempt. "Kasahara needed money for this mass operation. He no longer had the muscle to snare a painting or two, but at least he knew who to steal the art and where to sell them."

"Correct, Viper lady," said Origami. "With the funds held in a private account, I promised to pay the Dark Hand to search the Horse Talisman, which they knew could heal all alien forces within…. I wasn't actually going to pay them, so I had Kenzo and Xu Lin to follow their ways." Origami shook his head softly, as if in mockery. "You know..little boy…Xu Lin was quite the strong child….She put up a strong fight….before crumpling into a pathetic beast!"

The terraces echoed with a cacophony of laughter from the cloaked cohorts of the Higher Order.

"Arr!" yelled Paco with rage. "Xu Lin is a strong girl all the way, which is more than what I could say of you…you spineless pendejo!"

"OOOOHH!" the villainous crowd remarked at the strong words.

Paco was about to leap over the barrier when the guards tried to swing their rifles onto the boy's skull. El Toro Fuerte pushed the menaces away and crossed his arms over Paco's writhing body, not hesitating to freeze as the rifles steered towards his bulky noggin.

"Be a true luchadore, Paco," whispered El Toro down to his blithe pupil. "There is no use arguing with these cowardly fools. They know not any shame. Let my words hurt them for you."

Paco subsided his anger, allowing his superior to handle the situation as he had vowed, for El Toro never broke promises.

"How dare you use a child on your selfish quest, fold-up man!" El Toro taunted. "What did she ever do to you to deserve this?"

"I'll tell you what she did….She was close…to Chan Jackie Chan! Were it not for him, I would not have suffered as I have now…It was his fault that so many of my days were wasted away in dreadful nothingness….And as long as anyone keeps him alive…they will suffer so with him!"

"You are just mad," Viper scathed as she stood up next to El Toro, the guards following her. "Necrosis said you wanted Jackie alive. I sense hypocrisy here."

"But this is a special time," Origami shook his withered head. "I wanted all of you alive so that you will face your end and at once see my new beginning! Dr. Necrosis!"

On cue, the doctor gathered a remote control from his scarlet pockets, and pinpointed it in the direction of an orbital cannon, looming above a vat of the underground bay.

"If I must survive, the powers of the Horse Talisman will be taken beyond the reach of simple men! Dr. Necrosis will use this cannon to blend its powers into my body. By the time you are gone, I will have complete control over this body, and wield the forces of the scroll forever."

"Do not forget to pay us," said Necrosis. "Rebuilding my Necropolis will certainly be beneficial to your cause."

"Screw your cause," said Kenzo. "Bout time I try and get my diploma. The remaining 10 million to me, tax free, remember?"

"How can I not?" promised Origami, who looked back at Chan. "….And now that that's all been spoken, Chan….let me end by saying you will have the honor of being my first victim. Think of it….At least you will not suffer as much as everyone else will."

Jackie looked at him solemnly. "Now I understand, Kasahara. I understand why you suffer so…I understand the measures you took….and I do believe you need to be healed by the talisman. No one should be as you are…." Then the archaeologist raised an unfamiliar scowl. "But if you will use the talisman only so that you can renew your violence, then I can not allow it."

"Speak as you will, Chan Jackie Chan, but when there are supplements stirred into the pot, you'd take the chance as well."

"Not quite. Ancient proverb; do not take more than what is necessary," Jackie retorted.

"Still belonging in the past, are you, Chan? You should've stayed there."

******************************************************************************

In the subterranean cavern, several guards were listlessly playing trump cards on a fragile crate.

"What cha got?"

"4 queens and 10 kings!"

"What?! You can't be serious!"

"Well, why don't YOU bring your deck of Jokers next time!"

CRASH! SPLOOSH!

"Wuzzat?!" The guards tripped over the crate, ruining their cheap game, and flanked over the post to whip submachine guns into the bubbling waters below. The bay swished in white foam that died out back into the spooky blue dimension beneath.

"A perpetrator?" a guard wiped the sweat off the palm wrapping his weapon.

"Nah, lookie there," another pointed up to the cavern ceiling, where clouds of dust swooped down to meet the natural deluge. "It must have been a stalactite."

"Is that a giant insect?"

"Wake up and smell my @$$, you moron. Stalactite! Think of the 'c' as in 'ceiling'. It was just a rocky horn above the ceiling."

"You think a bug was in it?"

"I'm…not sure…." The guard noticeably circled behind him.

The cavern suddenly roared as thundering footsteps stepped onto the deck. The guards raised their guns before the barrels snapped off like dry twigs from the intense swiftness of goliath hands.

From behind the now visible presence of the giant android, a guard frantically loaded a KBR into his launcher, slapping the rocket indelicately because it couldn't slide in immediately, and because his sweat-laden hands kept slipping on the greasy cocking-handle.

The android turned and laid one flat, metal tread down on the deck, catapulting a wooden board with ease. Standing on that board, the rocket-packing guard almost took to the stratosphere had he not struck the coarse cavern ceiling, before screaming as he was sent splashing onto the dark, imposing waters. It was far too clear what had struck off the stalactite. The guards cowered into the corner of stacked crates, regretting that they wanted to know that.

The android stepped closer to them, and grabbed them all in a bear hug, straining them roughly so they wouldn't scream. Then, its sleepy eye formation clicked open wide, as in urgency, before booming with relentless potency.

"I need only to ask this once. WHERE IS JACKIE CHAN?"

******************************************************************************

Necrosis carried a box bearing the good luck emblems of China, which was quite a sickening irony considering what kind of luck it could mean for Chan, his friends, and even the world. The doctor flipped open a lid amongst the dominion of electronics, opened the box, and laid the talisman perfectly onto the octagonal space.

Chan laid stuck in a box, his head the only apparatus sticking out. His mind was still shaken by the revelation that Origami, flimsy and all, still had the power to own such a malignant faction, and if the paper fold-up man was to become even stronger, what would that make the faction then? Jackie's anxieties retreated as the ominous voice of Origami arrived.

"Why don't you speak? Not satisfied enough of having the front row seat, of having the first privilege to die?"

Chan spoke nothing, his eyes were closed as if in focus of someone unseen in his mind.

Origami frowned contemptuously as the henchmen marched down towards the sphere, and bowed graciously to bade their master for the new fate he was to have.

Far off, on the higher edges of the domain, Kenzo and his band of men were keeping El Toro Fuerte, Viper, and Paco distant from providing the archaeologist needy assists.

"I don't want Senor Jackie to be helpless", frowned Paco, turning to his two elders.

"Neither do I," replied Viper, watching a barrage of gun barrels directed at them from the uppermost grid. "But if we try to help him now, who's going to help us?"

"It's up to Jackie now, to stop Origami. I hope he does so in one piece," said El Toro Fuerte, clenching the safety bars with such unsteadiness that they already bent under the pressure of his knuckles.

Necrosis rubbed his callous hands with aplomb, bent them back and forth to elicit cracklings from his time-worn bones, and like a man enthusiastically starting on a piano lesson, he set his hands onto the foremost control pad of the machine and lightly tapped in the appropriate keys.

Like a dissonant symphony, what began as low vibrations of the omnipresent machinery gave way to deafening waves of apathetic screeches. The only apparent strands of marvel from this symphony were strands of teal blue light, which converged within the cannon's core, releasing a single laser diving through the crevice in Origami's sphere.

Enveloped by the blue light, Origami's entire form became shrouded in contrasting black.

Jackie squinted and bent his face away from the sight, but stopped when a clamorous gasp arose out of the sphere.

"This power…" Origami proclaimed in cold eagerness. "It feels like I am young again…!" The form wobbled on two legs, but the legs visibly straightened back in moments.

"Is everything presently all right, Kasahara?" queried Necrosis in a pair of light-refracting goggles.

"Whatever you do, do not stop the machine!" Origami bellowed, bluntly pointing a finger at Necrosis. Much to Chan's horror, the finger was alternating both in a paper form and a fleshed-out human form, though at this time, Origami didn't care whether the archaeologist saw the transformation or not. "I must have every amount of this power," he continued. "Drain away the talisman to its end, if it must be, but I must have more!"

SHHOOOM!

"What was that?!" said Kenzo, having heard a cord too harmonious to fit in with the workings of the machine. The guards all placed their eyes on the source of the sound, before gazing at a floating android, its legs whirring with fans beneath its soles, its arms raised up in battle.

"Riddle him!" Kenzo rashly ordered as he and the men expended thousands of bullets from atop the corridor. El Toro Fuerte grabbed Paco and Viper and they rolled right under the helter-skelter of the gun-toting cohorts, closing their ears and eyes at the searing fury above.

Trails of smoke and bullets lunged at the 13th Gear, but not a single assault from the cohorts sent it crashing down. Kenzo clicked on the trigger of the shotgun furiously, and seeing the uselessness of the arm, he threw it onto the 13th Gear.

The Gear grabbed the shotgun, and bowed down to Kenzo in a mock gesture of gratitude. With that, it zoomed blindingly down onto the energy machine, and hammered the weapon down on the machine's core, the talisman soaring out from the sudden collision. 

"NO!" yelled Origami as the laser blinked listlessly, and faltered.

Necrosis gasped, turned and grabbed for his pea-shooting revolver, until the 13th Gear rose in front of him, froze him stiff with fright…and thrust two fingers onto his comparatively wretched head.

"Ark! Uhh…" the Doctor groaned as he crumpled down the stairs leading to his masterpiece.

"I have always wanted to do that," the Gear spoke amusingly, as it grabbed the falling Horse Talisman and stored it in a convenient space in the left hand.

"Tohru?" Chan spoke, aware of the voice behind the android.

"That is I, Chan," the 13th Gear replied as it paced towards Chan's box, and ripped it wide open into two halves. "Kepler and the rest of our friends are safe inside," Tohru spoke through the robot.

"Hi, Jackie," came Jade's voice from the speaker right below the Gear's eyes.

"Hello, Jade," Jackie smiled, and then his eyes bulged in alarm. "Jade?! You can not be here, this place is too dangerous!"

"That's what I thought…until they blew our apartment!"

"Wha-?! How did they-"

"Talk later!" Jade replied, and that signaled Jackie to turn and see what he hadn't seen.

The orb encasing Origami sprang shear lengths of paper-thin blades, which were cutting diagonally across ever diameter of the glass. As the orb collapsed into fragments, an enraged Kasahara crept from the debris, and this time, his human face, elognated with its triangular hooks of ink-black hair, was visibly contorted with an urge to destroy no less than Jackie Chan. Origami swung his arms, ready to extend them to choke the life out of Chan, but instead his hands flew off and became monstrous shurikens, four-cornered throwing blades, hurtling at Jackie and the 13th Gear.

Jackie yelled and darted himself towards the fallen energy machine, but the Gear couldn't react fast enough, as a shuriken nicked through the circuits on the right end of its midsection. Tohru grunted uneasily as the Gear momentarily collapsed onto the floor, its hands supporting it from a total crash.

Origami's eyes widened at the work he had done, and seemingly spoke at his modified arm, which was regenerating his hand. "All the money in the world……never could do this….I'll treasure this gift forever! Unfortunately, for you….", he focused on the Gear, "you won't! HIIII-YAH!" he whirled another shuriken at the 13th Gear.

Tohru desperately grabbed one half of the prison box and shielded the shuriken, but one pointy end still managed to stick through the shield, stabbing the Gear's left hand and sending the Horse Talisman out of the periphery. The talisman whipped across the air, and landed right on the floor below where El Toro Fuerte, Viper, and Paco were.

"Kenzo! My Order! Stop them immediately! The talisman's in their reach!" Origami ordered.

"I don't know," Kenzo crossed his arms and shifted slightly away. "How 'bout you double my reward for this?"

"The deal is done! Now DO IT!!"

"Fine, you stinking 'Odor'."

"The Horse Talisman!" said El Toro Fuerte in alert. "We need it, Paco, to heal Xu Lin and get out of this place!"

Paco nodded, grabbed the guard bars, and somersaulted himself into the lower level. He landed with a slight thud on the back, but as a young luchadore, he still needed practice. Rubbing his back, he snatched the talisman and looked up at his friends. "El Toro Fuerte! Viper Lady! What must I do?"

"Run, my pupil!" replied El Toro, flexing his shoulders.

"We'll handle this," added Viper, seeing the masked cohorts of the Order running down the stairs. "Now!"

At the command, El Toro stomped onto the stairs, and immediately, it collapsed and sank an army of men, screeching down to their level. The mess of broken bodies was unbelievable.

"There is a reason why Paco calls me the best," El Toro smiled to Viper.

"Don't count on that just yet," Viper observed as another legion of cohorts descended onto her level by using the pile of their downed running buddies as the new staircase.

"Sorry," conceded El Toro to Viper, as the two readied to duel like they hadn't dueled in ever.

******************************************************************************

Jackie lobbed a monkey wrench to take away Origami's focus on the 13th Gear, and what a shot it was, as it thrust the paper fold-up man's unwary and flimsy form out into the debris of glass.

Jackie rolled and saw the 13th Gear holding one arm. "Tohru, will you be okay?"

"I've lost an arm. At least it is not my own. But I think I can manage."

"Argh! What susceptibility!"

"Dr. Kepler?" said Tohru, alarmed at the voice. "What is happening?"

"Our residential circuitry is going haywire. It is best that you output our programming back into the authentic world, else our presence will be eradicated!"

"I understand."

"I don't!" added Jackie in frustration. "Who else is in the programming?"

"You'll see when I remove them," the 13th Gear boomed as he threw down the shielding panel. Gasp! "Chan, watch out!"

"Huh? Bwah!" Chan bent his neck backward as a long papery tendril almost speared right at his face. The 13th Gear grabbed Chan and flew upward to evade Origami's reach, and it quickly landed on the farthest corner, near the bay.

"Forgive me for this," Tohru said as he pushed a button, and then, the rings encircling the robot's waist lit up, and materializing out of them were Jade, Kepler, Xu Lin, and Mama Tohru.

"Waah!" said Jackie. "Why do Xu Lin and Mama Tohru have to come up here?!"

"Helloo, Jackie!" Jade reminded him. "Xu Lin needs the Horse Talisman to keep herself from becoming the wendi-girl, and you know Mama Tohru never wants her son to be in danger…all alone."

"Urr!" Jackie scrunched his face, trying to configure the absurdity of it all. "Okay, okay. But first I need to find the Horse Talisman."

"Don't need to, senor Jackie, for I have found it!" Paco ran towards the group, and his eyes caught on Xu Lin.

"Xu Lin?"

"Paco?" smiled the little girl.

"Oh!" he hugged her tightly for the first time in many a day. "I am so sorry for leaving you alone."

"Well, I'm sorry that you're sorry for leaving me alone," Xu Lin sobbed.

"Then, I'm sorry that you're sorry that I'm sorry for leaving me alone," Paco said.

"Oh, no Paco. Don't feel that way. Because I'm sorry-"

"XU LIN!" Jackie and Jade yelled at them.

"Oh, sorry," Xu Lin shyly apologized as Paco gave the Horse Talisman on her palm. With that, the talisman flashed and Xu Lin held her own, almost teetering onto her side, until Paco caught her. They smiled at one another.

"Eck!" Jade mumbled to herself. "How gross…"

"You wouldn't think so if you were in love, Jade," Paco replied to her mumble, as he gave a quick peck on his girlfriend's cheek."

"Love, heh!" said Jade. "I can live without it, right, Jackie?"

"Well," Jackie began slowly. "It is best that I not see you that way, Jade."

"Ooooh! Is there nobody who can agree with me?!"

"Let's not talk about your future. Tohru," Jackie addressed to him as Xu Lin handed him the talisman, so that he could hand it to the sumo in the mech, "Take the Horse Talisman and heal your robot. That way, you could take us all in and get out of here."

As he did so, Jackie's hand was wrapped by Origami's coarse arm, and then, the archaeologist was thrust with the Horse Talisman still clutched in his hand. Origami, noticing what Jackie possessed, grabbed the talisman with his free arm, and then sent Jackie speeding onto his head, which was forming into a huge spike.

Jackie screamed, until an enormous thud shook the floor, and the bound of the paper fold-up man grew listless, dropping Jackie down. The Chan Man saw that where once stood Origami was nothing but a huge boulder.

"Huh?" he looked up and saw El Toro Fuerte and Viper up on the 5th floor, raising their thumbs in triumph at the spectacle. Jackie took the talisman and put it up to his back pocket, and raised his thumb up to his partners as well.

But the boulder itself rumbled loudly, and more tendrils latched onto it, with Origami pulling up the hefty weight. Not a single bit of his face was marred by the colossal stone. Jackie gasped.

"Have you not forgotten? PAPER BEATS ROCK!" Kasahara screamed temperamentally, as the boulder came crashing onto where El Toro and Viper stood. The luchadore and ex-thief lost balance and tumbled through the lower two floors, rendering them unconscious.

Kenzo and the Order crouched down to avoid the careening sheets of metal on their level. The young Yokanawa stood straight up. "Alright, slag the lower ones down!"

The Order quickly ricocheted off of the lower levels and right into Jade and the rest of the J-Team.

"What is this? More roaches to squish flat?" said Mama Tohru nonchalantly.

"Stay away, mommy. I will protect them for you," the 13th Gear spoke, its fists quivering in readiness.

"Tohru," said Jade. "You've got to help Jackie. He's all alone."

"But the Order…"

"They ran out of their shells, T-Man. They're not going to be that much trouble."

"Hmm.." the Gear turned at the marching band of Order, wielding nothing but karate yelps and lightning-fast hands and feet. He looked at Mama Tohru and Jade. "I'll give you all a head start."

Tohru drove one lever hard, and in synchronization, the 13th Gear smashed its workable fist down to the floor, rippling a quake towards the Order. The force sent many of the men flying like dummies as tiles of the floor shot upward, as if demons had been awakened to the world above.

"Good luck," the Gear said as it zoomed in the direction of the struggling Jackie Chan and Origami.

"Ready for the next step, little lamb?" Mama Tohru resumed to her crane stance.

"You better help us on this, Mama Tohru, unless you're a shepherd who cries wolf," said Jade teasingly.

"Hmmph. I'll show you how this shepherd leads a herd."

Soon, the first few members of the Order ran up. Mama Tohru leapt up to her foes with an outreached fist. But upon contact, she changed direction and raised one leg to hit the first man's chest, bounced off to headbutt the other, and while in air, somersaulted vertically to ax a kick onto a third's masked noodle. All three men laid unconscious in what looked like a second.

"Impressive, though at the rate of their mobility, we will be inefficacious to maintain momentum in minutes", said a worried Kepler.

"Kepler, if you're scared about a little fighting, just say so and you can stay in the farthest back," suggested Jade, as she marked a red sneaker on another member.

"Yeh, they gringos are not so tough," said Paco, who twirled Xu Lin rapidly and let her feet sweep away the Order like dust.

"A worthy notion," replied Kepler as he ran off where the enemies had not tread, but that's when he met face to face with Kenzo Yokanawa, the KBR launcher locked and loaded. "Ah. What dubious atrocity!"

Kenzo growled and pointed the launcher promptly into Kepler, who ducked down, as a KBR screeched deafeningly into the center of the struggle. Kepler gasped as the area behind him was engulfed in smoke, fire, and silence.

"Yahh!" screamed Jade as she leapt off the ground-bound cloud and laid a foot onto Kenzo's belly, causing him to lose the launcher right in front of Kepler.

The doctor tried to hold the KBR launcher for use, but its fiery touch impelled him to discard it into the bay.

Jade then leapt onto the doctor's shoulder for another serving of boot to the Yokanawa, but this time, the gangster was ready. He grabbed Jade's neck and threw her face first to the floor. She coughed and wheezed in pain, losing focus as to where she was right now.

"You!" said Paco as he, Xu Lin, and Mama Tohru came rushing in simultaneously to give Kenzo a piece of his own medicine, times three.

Kenzo yawned, and pushed an elbow forcefully at Paco's center, raised the fist upward to Xu Lin's face, and took the other hand to hold Mama Tohru's chin and drop her backwards onto Jade.

Kepler swirled his face around, recognizing that he remained the only conscious member of the J-Team, outside of Jackie and Tohru. One thing was for certain, he was all alone against Kenzo, the burning smoke blanketing both of them as if there would be no way out.

Kenzo smiled and fiercely darted a super-kick to Kepler's chin. Kepler crumpled, and whimpered as if a tooth had fallen off, but tensed his burly self back up, and aimlessly swung an uppercut without even looking. The fist smashed Kenzo and actually dropped him on his seat. Kepler sweated in pints at the action he had done.

Kenzo rose up, noticed a trickle coming out of his mouth, wiping the trickle to notice the red hue on his hand, and he dashed forward into the doctor. He shot out two fists, and Kepler ducked onto them, only to crouch into a rising leg that sent his head arching onto the tiles, flashing stars orbiting around his head.

As Kepler gagged and wiped the tears of pain pouring from his eyes, he heard Kenzo swinging a switchblade like a helicopter would swing its gyros.

"You're a sight that sores eyes, you know that? You may not last long, but you won't be seeing long before that."

Kepler grabbed a rock lying on the ground and threw it, striking the center rim of Kenzo's spectacles. The shot took Kenzo by surprise, and the gangster reflexively straightened up his glasses. Dr. Kepler capitalized on the delay by confiscating the glasses and casting them away in a careless speed. The moment the faint sound of breaking glass pierced both their ears, Kenzo and Kepler knew their tides were turned.

Kenzo angrily swung his hands and feet with murderous intent, but Kepler was able to back away from the attacks, now that the gangster lost his focus. The grunts and swings didn't encourage any words from the doctor, and that made it all the more maddening. As the now vague form of Kepler stood before him, Kenzo labored in his respiring, his eyes blood shot from all the smoke and the inward ire that struck him. He could not exactly see Kepler, who was smiling at him and shaking his head in indifference.

Kenzo roared with all the air he consciously had left in him, readying a massive switchblade slice as he sped to Kepler.

"You are quite the ignoramus," said Kepler quietly.

"Arrrr!" Kenzo swayed the lethal offense onto the doctor. Within moments, Kepler retreated down to the floor, and Kenzo's swing, having gone wrong, caused the gangster to unintentionally turn his back to the doctor, and toss away the switchblade! With that, Kepler resumed standing position, wrapped both his arms around Kenzo's waist, and with all his courage, circled sloppily across the smoky air and dropped the gangster's head and neck right on the deck. The lights of Kenzo Yokanawa were finally busted out.

"Idiot, to you," Kepler finished as he straightened his dusty lab coat.

"Ohh!" said Jade, holding up her head. "What happened?"

"Did we lose yet?" moaned Paco somewhere in the smoke.

"How can we lose?" came out Mama Tohru. "I can still play shepherd once more!"

"Oh, dear," said Kepler as he gazed up above him. "I don't conjecture shepherds could extend to the ceiling."

****************************************************************************** 

Jackie leapt over the steal beams supporting the dome as Origami gave chase with blade-shaped paper arms ready to layer the archaeologist.

The 13th Gear rushed and attempted to sock the back of Origami's noggin with 50 pounds of titanium. Origami somehow noticed, and folded his head into a flat hand that grabbed the 13th Gear's hand and threw the android up at the ceiling.

Tohru grunted as the crash jarred his sumo body, and then he observed the eyes of the 13th Gear were covered in viscous mud. Realizing that the Gear broke a support that led to the soft grounds of the rain forest above, Tohru activated the wind-shield wipers and took timing to jab the arms into the leaking ceiling. But the Gear's leg fans were shot off as paper arrows pierced into them. Tohru raised his own feet in impulse as the lower controls had been lost.

Then, Origami coiled an arm around the Gear, which was helplessly whipping its arms, turned his other arm into goliath shurikens, and shot them on all the extremities. The dynamism sent the Gear crashing back side down to the floor from over 200 feet. The J-Team had to drag the unconscious Order out so they wouldn't become human pancakes from the Gear's powerhouse fall.

Origami smiled, amused at his work, and then saw Jackie swinging a 10-foot steel pipe like a ninja staff.

The archaeologist swiftly slashed the pipe onto Origami's hands, tattering them into frail pieces. Origami yelled, though in stupefaction, not pain. He lashed out a quick slap of the arm onto Chan's face, forcing Chan to spin out behind a vertical support beam.

Jackie sighed, and then looked at the reflection on the beam, seeing Origami's hands were taking time to reconstitute to their offensive arrangement. At the same time, he saw the pulleys that had carried the technology Necrosis intended for Kasahara. Jackie momentarily held up the Horse Talisman, activated its healing powers, was refreshed of all deep bruises and was ready to leap back into the fray.

With his round, rubber shoes, Jackie put both his feet on the vertical beam, stood there for a split second, and hanged onto a pulley with his right hand. He swung rearward to the beam behind, compressed his legs flat like those of a frog, and leapt across the smoky air before releasing the pulley, permitting gravity to send the foreign object whirring a bulls-eye onto Origami's face. The hook stabbed onto Origami's face and left him resembling a hanged man, but of course, he was still too lively to be such an individual.

Landing belly first onto the beam, Jackie regained his breath and continued moving on with the skirmish as he bounced off the beam several times and sent the remaining pulleys onto Origami's way. Soon, Origami resembled a 7-foot paper puppet that seemed angry at some unknown ventriloquist. He narrowly countered with a shuriken that zipped past Jackie but struck the corner of the support beam, causing the beam to slide down into the ground below.

Jackie, his heart beating as if it wanting to leave the cage that was his body, scrambled down the falling beam in short-term velocities rivaling a regular automobile. His eyes were pulled to the rim by the air slamming onto his face, and his clothes became sagged along with everything else. Jackie closed his eyes and let one final stride before soaring 20 feet across and grasping his arms onto the energy cannon, the only solid object to hold from the said height.

Gasping like he had finished a country-wide marathon, Jackie let out a small eep as Origami swirled around the beams and transformed into a spiky sphere. Jackie ran down the cannon as Kasahara's juggernaut form rolled down the cannon and what else remained of the machine that gave the infamous thief his new lease on life.

Jackie leapt and ran in panic until his face collided with the flat, upright foot of the downed 13th Gear. Jackie slumped down to the floor, holding his jaw for he had accidentally bit his tongue. The ache was quickly overruled by apprehension as Origami jumped on top of the machine debris, revealing his hugely satisfied human face, chuckling at Jackie for draining away all his strength while his had barely needed to be tapped.

"You see, now, how useless it is to resist, Chan Jackie Chan? The Horse Talisman has given me more than enough of its due. Your group may have stopped my Order cold, but I am more than enough for any team to handle. My Order will rise again, and the world will be ours!"

"You….huff....huff…..dream too much.." Jackie stood up reluctantly, his arms shivering in agony.

"And you don't dream enough," Origami spoke, taking all the time in the world for Chan to drift away in his hurt.

Chan fell backwards on the 13th Gear, and felt the frustrated pounds of Tohru, who could not get the android back into shape with the shurikens pinned on its arms and legs. Chan then had the brightest bulb lit in his life.

"But I am not done for," Chan smiled weakly as he stood himself onto the Gear's rotund belly. "I can still handle another beating or two. How about it?" While speaking this, the archaeologist bowed his face, put both his arms behind, took the talisman out of his pocket, and slid it beneath his long leg-khakis. 

"Well?" Jackie mocked at Origami as he thrust his hands in the air, punching at nothingness and hopping his legs back and forth like a kickboxer anticipating his competitor's next maneuver.

  
"I don't even have to lock in close combat to destroy you," Kasahara haughtily raised both his arms and delicately modified them into cross-bows, with 5 arrows set to kill this flea of a foe.

"I am glad that the talisman has given you such powerful weapons," Jackie jeered cheerfully, and as he hopped, the talisman fell off of one leg onto surface of the 13th Gear. He then stopped his hopping, and gently pressed one foot down on the talisman to hide it……and activate it.

"Why have you suddenly lost your mind, Chan?" laughed Origami. "You know I have the best weapons of them all!"

"You sure know your weapons," said Chan. "But do your weapons know…YOU!" Chan leapt to the side of the 13th Gear, and on cue, Tohru thrust the Gear into action. With the arms healed, the giant shurikens fell onto the robot's hands, and quickly the 13th Gear crossed its arms and then hurled both shurikens simultaneously, with a strength twice that of Origami.

Origami took shock at the flying stars used against him, and foolishly aimed at the stars to destroy them. He dropped his jaw helplessly when he discovered too late that the shurikens weren't meant to target him.

They were targetting the leaking ceiling.

Skewering the dome's edges in deep gaps, the shurikens detonated in force, sending piles of saturated mud and rain water onto the paper fold-up man. Origami spat at the mud overlapping his human face and wiped his face, before he saw the weakened cannon disintegrate, and succumb to the puddle he stood on.

"NOOO!" Origami bade as he knew what was about to occur.

In a second, the cannon's scattered sparks became screeching, roaring snakes of electricity clambering across the sudden deluge. The bolts zipped onto Origami, feeding him with excessive jolts of power. Power was now overwhelming for Mr. Kasahara.

"AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!" Origami screamed in ear-splitting mayhem, his eyes bulging as if they were about to fly off their sockets, his hair burning to crisps.

Jackie solemnly walked toward the tortured Origami, pointed a steel pipe with accuracy in mind, and speared it onto Origami's chest, careening the paper fold-up man out of the pool of death and back to a world hardly familiar to him, the world of mercy.

The burned Origami exhaled one more conscious gasp, and closed his eyes to unwilling sleep.

Jackie sighed the loudest sigh in his life as he grabbed the stunned culprit of the entire conspiracy, and folded him in halves, until what became of Origami now was a pint-size square no larger than Chan's own palm.

The 13th Gear walked up to Jackie and opened a ring for him to detain the once-ominous Origami into the digital plane. Once the loading was complete, the sides of the Gear's helmet were thrown open, and Tohru's face became visible.

"Ahh," said Tohru, eyes closed in relaxation. "It is over, Chan."

"Yes, it is," smiled Jackie as he put a comforting hand on the Gear's shoulder. "You've saved our lives twice this week, and even though you started out with a bad foot, you never had a wrong one."

"I can't go wrong when I have my friends," replied Tohru.

"Speaking of which," said Jackie, "let's go help them out. I think we all deserve the Horse Talisman after so long."

****************************************************************************** 

"Helloo! Time for all of you to wake up! We have a big day ahead of us!" yelled Uncle as he rocked Jackie's head on the bedroom of Uncle's Rare Finds.

"Ow! Okay, Uncle, please be calm," Jackie pulled out the sheets, and jumped readily onto his slippers. He was followed by his niece Jade, who was still holding her head.

"Ohh! Why do I feel so whacked out after being healed?" Jade bemoaned, as she washed her face on the sink.

"It's just we don't have enough sleep," Jackie yawned and outstretched his arms, almost pushing away Jade.

"You tell me. I had to finish the homework 2 hours ago. Ohhh.."

"Oh well, I don't think the Horse Talisman can do anything about sleep. I guess I will just have to return the talisman back to-"

"Jackie!" Uncle called to his nephew. "Kepler has brought along a friend, a very old one. I think you may want to meet him."

The confused Jackie and Jade went down the stairs, and their faces opened wide in enjoyment at the person next to Kepler.

"Captain Black!" cheered Jade.

"Hello, Jackie. Hello, Jade. I may not have fully recovered, but at least I won't spend my life laying down!" vowed Captain Black, who, while still blindfolded, walked carefully with the aid of a cane. "I've heard from Kepler the news about the 13th Gear. Good news is, my superiors at Section 13 will not charge the scientist for any wrong usage of the weapon. I'll make sure that the Gear won't be used again for a very long time."

"That it should," Jackie nodded in agreement. "What about Kasahara?"

"Origami is being locked up in a digital file at Section 13's new locale. There will be no chance anyone will encrypt him from it. The rest of the Order, including Necrosis and Kenzo 'Skinny' Yokanawa, are all in maximum prision pending trials on numerous accounts. This time, Kenzo will be tasting the same justice as the rest of his family. Congratulations, Jackie. I would shake your hand, but um, uh…"

"Oh, don't worry, I will shake it for you," Jackie said as he caringly slapped his palm onto Black's.

"Um, Jackie, something wrong with your hand?" Black queried at the odd feeling on the palm.

"Not at all," Jackie smiled as a flash appeared out of the clasped hands.

Black gasped and dropped his cane. Kepler was about to speak when Black willingly removed the blindfold, and his emerald eyes shone in their normal luster again. "Hah hah!" Black ululated.

Jackie showed the palm, and the Horse Talisman was situated there. "I think this horsey wants to be back in your home," he said as he gave the talisman to Dr. Kepler, who smiled and nodded complacently.

"Come on, Black, Kepler. We're going to be having a big, big breakfast here, and Uncle's got rid of the roaches," said Jade, excitedly holding Black's arm.

"Roaches?" said a disturbed Black.

"Ehh!" said Uncle with firm confidence. "Those little demons could not last long when I hired the pest control. Bill is big, but whatever. All of you will be having the party at Uncle's Rare Finds. There is no better place love home!"

"That's no place like home!" whispered Jackie. Whap! "Ow!"

"Today is a party day, so don't be a party pooper!"

"Speak for yourself, billy goat!" came up Mama Tohru from the front door. "If Jackie doesn't want to poop on your time, then you don't poop on mine!"

"Oooh!" Uncle said. "Alright, giant roach, just for this day, because you saved Jackie and my assistant!"

"Of course I would rescue your assistant," Mama Tohru replied, as Tohru appeared, "especially if he is MY WONDERFUL BOY!" She nuzzled her cheek onto her son with great pride.

"Tohru, you can walk again," said Black.

"It was not just I alone who made that possible. I am thankful for everyone who helped along the way."

  
"And that includes me, El Toro Fuerte and Xu Lin, the Torrential Trio of the luchadores!" said Paco with raised arms as he and his two additional partners arrived by the door.

"Senor Paco," said Xu Lin, "it's hard to believe it has become this day. It seems like a dream."

"It is real, and that makes it better," said Paco as he kissed her for the umpteenth time.

"Ayah!" exclaimed Uncle. "I will not allow the-"

"Unnn-cle!" teased Jade. "You did allow Mama Tohru in, and El Toro did help the J-Team."

"Oooh! I will allow him in, but only because you are my nephew's niece."

"Thank you, Uncle of Jackie!" praised El Toro with a massive grin. Whap! "Oh!"

"One more thing! Do not congratulate me!"

"Looking back, this team's not that dysfunctional at all," added Viper with an amused smile. "And I guess this party's going to be no less different."

"Oh, no, it won't," said Jackie as he held Viper's hands. "It's going to be better, because what can not stop us will make us better."

"Agreed," said Viper as she hugged Jackie back in reply. "So, where will we be going for the big party?"

"Those and many other questions will be answered after breakfast! Come now, everyone, and let me serve a tasty dish!" said Uncle ecstatically.

******************************************************************************

Soon, all the members of the J-Team, Jackie, Jade, Tohru, El Toro Fuerte, Mama Tohru, Paco, Xu Lin, Viper, Dr. Kepler, and Captain Angus Black held their forks and twirled at Uncle's dishes of noodles, enveloping the noodles to quell their famished states.

"Mmm!" said Jackie. "This is the best dish of noodles I have ever eaten, Uncle! You must teach me how to cook like you do."

"Eh!" Uncle said, proudly twirling a big dish for himself. "It is never hard to cook mealworms, and they are very high in protein too!"

Everyone swelled their eyes distressingly at each other, and turned to Uncle, as their bulbous mouths grew ready to…

Well, to make a clean ending, let's say that as great as the life before the party was, the team hoped the life after the party would be better.

THE END

A/N: Wowie! That was the longest piece of fiction I have written in my writing history! Tajeri Lynn wants to grant mucho thanks to Lil' Spleef, Shadowcell, NocturneD, and all those other writers and readers who've made this debut the success it has become. Thank you for being such faithful amigos!

Now, for all of you who have waited, here now is the EXTREMO VOTE 2002! This here will determine the next 3 fics I will work on over the next few months. (The remaining two may be written later.) RULES: post the votes in order from first to third, by the letter they represent, in your review. (If, e.g., you want choice A as your first choice, write A first, and follow up with the next choices.)

Pick your choices carefully! This election will also appear at the end of "SBTW", so if you vote here, do not revote on the other fic.

The Choices Are

TAKATO WONG- (Digimon 03)- Imagine a Japan where the obsession over a television show has molded a chaotic society filled with gangsters dressed as their digimon characters, and a mysterious, fanged being fuels the chaos to his will. Imagine too, a boy without a loyal creature, without friends and without family, with the exception of a family who will need his abilities and put them to the test…to save what's left of the dystopian country….

GENMA HIRYUMUSHA- (JCA)- What if you once belonged not in a different time, but a different dimension? When a parallel world is resurrected in Jackie's world of San Francisco, Jackie learns of a deadly soul enveloping a familiar creature. He learns too, that he was once the samurai Jadonosuke, and now must fulfill the warrior's destiny to find the force that will help him defeat the foe named Genma Hiryumusha.

SOULS BETWEEN THE WALLS 2: DIGITAL CORE- (The Zeta Project)- Could this be the most controversial ZP fic in mind? One is all cells, the other all machine. But a bizarre offer will drive their lives to a new, untouchable level.

SAY UNCLE- (JCA)- Uncle loses his memory, leading to a wild chain of events that will test the patience of the J-Team and Valmont's Enforcers.

SOUL & SIGHT- (JCA)- Did you think I was going to leave the original cast of "Souls Between the Walls" behind? Another helping of the characters fighting on, enduring on, and, oh yes, getting it on more than before. "Soul & Sight" will also feature a bitter horror dimension added to its fantastic eroticism.

That's all for now, all you literary luchadores. I will now leap off from the world of Fanfiction.Net. I vow to meet you amigos again. Enjoy your Easter Vacation, and so will I. Adios!

Tajeri Lynn the Extremo Luchadore


End file.
